The year 2025 marks 150 years of Vande Mataram, India’s National Song. Composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Navami, on 7 November 1875, Vande Mataram emerged not merely as a literary creation but as a civilisational call. It became the song of India’s freedom movement.

Recognising the song’s historic significance, Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated the year-long commemoration of Vande Mataram on 7 November. As part of this commemoration, a special debate was organised in Parliament, offering the nation an opportunity to reflect on the song’s legacy, its role in India’s freedom movement, and its place in contemporary India.

A dominant theme of the parliamentary debate was the acknowledgement of Vande Mataram as a song of national consciousness. Another important, and more contentious, strand of the debate focused on the historical choices made in independent India regarding national symbols. Several speakers pointed to how the personal preferences and ideological inclinations of Jawaharlal Nehru, India’s first Prime Minister, influenced the selection of Jana Gana Mana, composed by Rabindranath Tagore, as the National Anthem, while Vande Mataram, despite its immense popularity and emotional resonance, was relegated to the status of National Song.

A cursory reading of the debate may give the impression that India’s two great songs—Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana—were being pitched against each other. However, such an interpretation would be both superficial and misleading. As Defence Minister Rajnath Singh clarified in Parliament, the intent of the commemoration and the debate was not to create a hierarchy or a conflict between the two. He cautioned against attempts to construct a divisive narrative. In his words, the nation holds equal respect for both the National Anthem and the National Song. He pointed out that Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram are not rivals; they are complementary expressions of India’s national soul.

Congress leader and Rajya........

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