On December 8, 2025, the Lok Sabha is holding a special debate led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram, the national song first published in 1875 in Anandamath by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. The iconic verse, which evolved from a 19th-century literary creation into a unifying slogan of India’s freedom movement, has once again become the centre of national attention as Parliament prepares for a marathon 10-hour discussion.
The debate comes on the heels of PM Modi’s recent allegation that the Congress “removed important stanzas” from the original composition during its 1937 Faizabad session, an act he claimed “sowed the seeds of partition” and was influenced by Jawaharlal Nehru. As the political temperature rises, here’s a closer look at the 150-year journey and enduring controversy surrounding Vande Mataram.
Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay composed Vande Mataram in the late 19th century while serving as a Deputy Magistrate under British rule, inspired in part by his discomfort with colonial policies. The poem first appeared on November 7, 1875, in his Bengali journal Bangadarshan, and its full version was later featured in his 1882 novel Anandamath, where a monk named Bhavanand sings it. Chattopadhyay is believed to have written the hymn as a patriotic counterpoint to the British anthem God Save the Queen.
During the Swadeshi movement in Bengal, the poem transformed into a pivotal political slogan. Following the 1905 division of Bengal, the song served as the anthem for boycott campaigns and protest demonstrations. In 1906, over 10,000 Hindus and Muslims marched together in Barishal, chanting Vande Mataram.
Even the poet Rabindranath Tagore led nationalist protest marches where Vande Mataram was sung. In 1907, Madam Bhikaji Cama raised the first tricolour flag abroad in Stuttgart, with the words Vande Mataram prominently displayed on it.
Debate around Vande Mataram’s religious imagery intensified in the 1930s. In 1937, Congress chose to retain only the first two stanzas, as leaders including Jawaharlal Nehru and Rabindranath Tagore felt that references to goddesses like Durga and Lakshmi in later verses alienated many Muslims.
In a letter to Tagore in 1937, Jawaharlal Nehru, who read an English translation of Anandamath, said that the background of the novel is “bound to irritate Muslims”.
Muslim leaders, including Muhammad Ali Jinnah, publicly rejected the song, calling it unacceptable even in edited form. Gandhi later drafted a resolution in 1939 supporting the two-stanza version.
After Independence, Nehru argued that Vande Mataram was musically unsuitable as the national anthem. In a Cabinet note on May 21, 1948, Nehru spelled out his reasons for choosing Jana Gana Mana over Vande Mataram as the national anthem.
“…Vande Mataram for all its beauty and history is not an easy tune for orchestral or band rendering. It is rather plaintive and mournful and repetitive. It is particularly difficult for foreigners to appreciate it as a piece of music. It has not got those peculiar distinctive features which Jana Gana Mana has. It represents very truthfully the period of our struggle in longing and not so much the fulfilment thereof in the future,” he said.
On 24 January 1950, the Constituent Assembly granted it national song status alongside Jana Gana Mana. Contestation continued: In 2006, Jamiat Ulama-i-Hind stated Muslims could not sing the full song, and clerics issued a fatwa against it in 2009.
The BJP frames Vande Mataram as a civilizational symbol and argues the Congress’s 1937 decision to drop later stanzas was overly accommodating. PM Modi has launched year-long celebrations, with the party highlighting the song’s cultural legacy ahead of the 2026 West Bengal polls.
Congress, meanwhile, says the renewed focus is politically timed and meant to distract from issues like electoral reforms and SIR. It maintains that the 1937 move was a sensitive, inclusive decision backed by Gandhi, Nehru, Patel and other national leaders.