The Pulse | Politics | South Asia

‘Forcible Imposition’ of India’s National Song Triggers Resistance in the Country’s Northeast

Some stanzas of “Vande Mataram” refer to Hindu goddesses. India’s religious minorities say it goes against their monotheist beliefs.

Activists of the Nagaland unit of India’s ruling Bharatiya Janata Party pose for a photograph to mark the 150th anniversary of India’s national song, Vande Mataram.

The Indian government’s formalization of guidelines regarding the rendition of “Vande Mataram,” India’s national song, has triggered opposition from some states in India’s northeastern border region.

Earlier, India’s Muslims, India’s largest religious minority, had opposed attempts by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-led federal government to make the singing of Vande Mataram mandatory. Now, states in India’s Northeast, especially Nagaland, whose populace is predominantly Christian, are objecting to the imposition of the song.

Vande Mataram has triggered controversy for over a century. However, when the Union Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) issued comprehensive guidelines on February 11, formalizing the official protocol for the rendition of Vande Mataram, and specifying when and how it should be played or sung at government and public functions, strong objections were raised, and this time it was from the Northeast.

The directive mandates that the full six-stanza version of the song be played or sung at all government functions, official events, and school and college assemblies.

Composed by the Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chatterji during colonial times, Vande Mataram was published in 1875. It was considered seditious by colonial authorities and violently suppressed. Generations of freedom fighters also embraced it as a symbol of resistance and sacrifice. However, Vande Mataram also became a slogan and a popular anthem for Hindu nationalists during the freedom struggle.

While the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram contain rousing calls to bow to the “mother” and “motherland,” subsequent verses refer to Hindu goddesses. While the song struck a chord with Hindu nationalists, it evoked a sense of unease, even resistance, among India’s religious minorities. Given their monotheist beliefs, they objected to bowing to Hindu goddesses.

Given the controversies it triggered and owing to the concerns raised by a section of Muslim leaders, in 1937, the Indian National Congress, which was at the vanguard of India’s freedom movement, adopted Vande Mataram — but only its first two stanzas — as the national song. Following independence in 1947, free India’s constituent assembly adopted “Jana, Gana, Mana,” composed by Rabindranath Tagore, as India’s national anthem, while Vande Mataram became the national song.

With the Hindu nationalist BJP getting re-elected nationally in 2024 and especially amid celebrations of Vande Mataram’s 150th anniversary last year, the party has been trying to boost the status of Vande Mataram.  The party stoked controversy and debate in Parliament in December last year, with........

© The Diplomat