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Vande Mataram 150th Year Becomes Political Battleground as Celebrations Roll Out

A state move to require school renditions highlights how a cultural commemoration has turned into a fight over the 1937 curbs shaped by Tagore.

Overview

  • Prime Minister Narendra Modi on November 7 launched a year-long programme marking 150 years of Vande Mataram and released a commemorative stamp and coin.
  • Congress cited the Congress Working Committee’s October 1937 statement—issued after consulting Rabindranath Tagore—to rebut Modi’s claim linking the omission of later stanzas to partition, and it demanded an apology.
  • Indian diplomatic missions from Chile to Canada hosted mass singalongs, and Indian Railways divisions staged collective renditions, including full-version performances at major stations.
  • Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath announced that singing Vande Mataram will be made compulsory in all educational institutions in the state.
  • Political friction widened as the TMC and BJP clashed in West Bengal over the song and the national anthem, and a Karnataka BJP leader retracted a remark suggesting Vande Mataram should have been the anthem.