BJP to mark 150 years of ‘Vande Mataram’ with nationwide recitations from November 7

The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) on Wednesday announced that “Vande Mataram” would be collectively sung across the country on November 7, the day Prime Minister Narendra Modi is expected to attend one such event at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium here.

The celebrations will be held at 150 sites of national significance, including the Kargil War Memorial, the Cellular Jail in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Swaraj Ashram in Odisha, Shaheed Smarak Park in Agra, and Namo Ghat in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh. Similar events are planned at about 1,100 locations in West Bengal.

At a press conference, BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said the party would organise programmes at the district and State levels to commemorate the 150th anniversary of “Vande Mataram” from November 7 to November 26, coinciding with Constitution Day. The events will include a pledge to promote the use of made-in-India products.

“‘Vande Mataram’, which served as a motto for the country’s independence, inspired millions of revolutionaries. Many freedom fighters went to the gallows while chanting ‘Vande Mataram’ and endured the oppression of foreign invaders. It emerged as a powerful mantra for India’s liberation from the British,” he said.

Mr. Chugh said the national song was composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1875 and was famously recited by Rabindranath Tagore in 1896.

He added that at the Indian National Congress session in Kakinada in 1923, when “Vande Mataram” was being sung, then Congress president Maulana Mohammad Ali had objected to it on religious grounds. In 1937, the Congress Working Committee decided to adopt only its first two stanzas as the national song. “Even later, on many occasions, the Congress and its leaders have demonstrated their intolerance towards ‘Vande Mataram’ on various platforms,” he said.

(With PTI inputs)