Vande Mataram: The musical logic behind PM Nehru’s choice |
In the days leading up to the Centre’s decision to stage a 10-hour parliamentary debate on Vande Mataram — a move perhaps heavily influenced by poll prospects in West Bengal — an ensemble of classical musicians performed the country’s national song on the day of its 150th commemoration.
PM Modi gave a speech right after, revisiting Jawaharlal Nehru’s decision to drop two stanzas from the original Vande Mataram by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, framing it as an act of appeasement toward Muslim leaders, which, according to the PM, “sowed the seeds of the division of the nation”.
At this point, BJP members are asking for, besides an apology from Congress and awareness of Vande Mataram, inclusion of the two paras dropped in 1937 and equal status for the national song as the anthem and the flag. The national song does have the same status; only that the anthem has legal backing as there are mandatory guidelines governing its performance.
But the status of a song also depends on the inherent idea that it is still a combination of melody, lyrics and rhythm, and is to be sung and performed. The musical structure of Vande Mataram, which is set in the evening raag Desh, comes with melodic........