Overview
- At the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium, the Prime Minister released a commemorative stamp and coin and launched a portal inviting citizen renditions of the song.
- A synchronized mass recital of the full version took place around 9:50 a.m. across public spaces nationwide, aligned with the Delhi event.
- The government detailed year-long activities spanning seminars, exhibitions, radio and TV specials, short films, school and college programmes, and cultural events via Indian missions abroad.
- PM Modi linked the 1937 decision to use select stanzas to ideological rifts that he said helped sow the seeds of Partition, prompting pushback from the opposition as Congress chief Mallikarjun Kharge accused the BJP-RSS of not singing the song in their forums.
- Composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1875 and first published in Bangadarshan before inclusion in Anandamath, ‘Vande Mataram’ was later declared India’s national song in 1950.