September 7th 2006 marked the cente-nary celebration of Vande Mataram – the national song of India for which the beautiful song was sung on this day exactly at 11 am through out the country with much ferver and fanfare. However some of the hardcore Islamic institutions refused to sing the song after all India Muslim personal law board opposed the song on the pretext of being anti-Islamic. It argued, the song which hails Bharat Mata or Mother India is against Islamic principles for Islam doesn’t allow worshiping anyone but Allah. The song which once united whole of the subcontinent against the Britishers is now labelled as a divisive element between Hindus and Muslims. 

To understand the issue in proper perspective, one has to go to the history of this great song. The song was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the great Bengali litterateur in the early 1870s. It how ever remained unpublished until 1881 when Bankim Chandra included it in his novel Ananda Math. The song was first sung by Rabindra Nath Tagore in the Calcutta session of Indian National Congress in 1896.(Although the centenary   of this song was completed in 1996, it is celebrated a decade after as it could not be celebrated that year). It was also sung in the Benaras Congress session in 1905, in the anti-partition processions in Calcutta led by R.N. Tagore and Swadeshi agitations and meetings addressed by Aravindo Ghose in the same year.

Aravindo Ghose translated the poem into English and hailed Bankim Chandra as the ‘Rishi’ of Indian Nationalism. The poem was then translated into a number of Indian languages including Tamil by Subramaniyam Bharati. Mahatma Gandhi also took note of the song and appreciated it as back as 1905. The song then became a common slogan for the common man against their anti-British agitation. Many of our freedom fighters faced bullets with this slogan on their lips. Vande Mataram thus became the soul of India’s freedom struggle. The song became very popular amongst nationalists because of its appealing wordings, captivating lyrics and ever urging appreciation of the beauty of the mother land. It narrates the beauty of Bharat Mata as richly watered, richly flowered, richly fruited, sweet of laughter, sweet of speech, full of greenery, full of cool breezes and the giver of bliss.

The song for the first time invited criticisism in 1930s from the Islamic quarters on two grounds – first, its association with Bankim Chandra’s novel Ananda Matha which depicted Muslim Nawabs in a poor light; second its religious imagery and idolatry implicit in the subsequent stanzas of the poem (other than the two stanzas accepted as national song). A number of Muslim leaders including M.A. Jinnah vociferously opposed the recitation of the song. As a result of this opposition, Nehru sought the opinion of Rabindra Nath Tagore in 1937 regarding the suitability of the song as the National Anthem. Rabindra Nath’s reply was to accept the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram as the remaining stanzas may hurt the sentiments of monotheists. Acting upon this advice the congress working committee accepted the first two stanzas of the song. Jinnah was however undone. He conveyed his displeasure to Nehru in a letter in March 1938. The congress under Nehru then made a provision that anyone who wished not to participate in the singing of Vande Mataram in any national gathering was free to do so. This compromise of Nehru and congress, to the displeasure of many including Rajgopalchari, S.V. Patel and Rajendra Prasad, created a dividing line between Hindus and Muslims to accept Vande Mataram unequivocally. The rift was further widened in 1939 after some provincial governments like Bihar and Central provinces issued instructions to educational institutions clarifying that singing Vande Mataram is not obligatory. This gave enough liberty to Muslims to continue their tragic oppositions to the song.

The matter whether Vande Mataram should be accepted as the national anthem was widely discussed in the constituent assembly. After much deliberation, Jana-Gana-Mana was accepted as the national anthem. Jawaharlal Nehru described the argument between Vande Mataram and Jana-Gana-Mana as unfortunate and said ‘obviously and indisputably Vande Mataram is the premier national song of India with great historical tradition and no other song can replace it.’ He declared, Vande Mataram will continue to be the national song par excellence with same importance as of Jana-Gana-Mana.  On the concluding day of deliberations, on 24th January 1950, Vande Mataram was sung in the constituent assembly with Rajendra Prasad moving a resolution that Jana-Gana-Mana was to be the national anthem  and Vande Mataram the national song. In all probability, the opposition of Muslims paved the way for Jana-gana-mana at the cost of Vande Mataram. India is one of the few countries to have accepted two songs one as national song and other as national anthem.

  Both the songs are ofcouse close to the heart of every patriotic Indian not-withstanding the objections raised by a few disgruntled elements.