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The recent controversy surrounding ‘Vande Mataram’, India’s national song, warrants a deeper examination beyond the song itself. It requires us to look at the historical context in which Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the composer, wrote it, as well as to the historical backdrop against which it was subsequently promoted and, ultimately, why its full rendition has received legislative backing.

Beyond the immediate political dispute lies a larger question: how does the invocation of ‘Vande Mataram’ intersect with the patriarchal vision underpinning the RSS-BJP’s belief system, and what does this mean for India’s constitutional commitment to pluralism and equality? The debate is ultimately not just about a song, but about who and what shapes the national identity, how loyalty is audited and what kind of nationhood is being imagined.

Bankim is celebrated as one of the early architects of Indian nationalism and was influential in shaping its intellectual imagination. However, his conception of the nation was deeply complex and exclusionary, profoundly shaped by Hindu religious and historical imagery.

The recurring motifs in his writings substantiate this argument. In Anandamath (1882), for instance, he invokes Hindu resistance to Muslim rulers as the basis of national pride, more often than not portraying Muslims as oppressive and Hindus as victims of historical subjugation.

Likewise, his deification of the motherland as a Hindu goddess –realised through allegories of Durga and Kali in ‘Vande Mataram’ – reveals how inextricably his idea of nationalism was intertwined with Hindu religiosity.

Paradoxically, Bankim regarded British rule as legitimate for much of his life and championed English education, while simultaneously exhibiting deep hostility towards medieval Muslim rule. His legacy therefore embodies an enduring historical contradiction. Although he was a major influence on Indian nationalism, his vision of the nation was both powerful and profoundly structured by a communal binary. It was this fusion that........

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