The recent controversy in the wake of the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram is unjustified and unwarranted. After the ministry formation in 1937, Hindu-Muslim tension peaked in United Bengal. A K Fazlul Haq became the chief minister of Bengal and the Congress did not join his coalition government in spite of Haq’s keen desire. The differences became acute, with the Muslim leadership spearheading a movement against Vande Mataram for its Hindu symbolism and praise of Hindu Gods, and the symbols of Calcutta University, Shree and lotus were at the centre of a controversy that forced the central leadership of the Congress to intervene.

Rabindranath Tagore, when consulted by the Congress leadership, approved the singing of the first two stanzas of the Vande Mataram as the National Song. In October 1937, in an article published in the Visva Bharati News, Krishna Kriplani argued that the song Vande Mataram was totally incompatible with the Congress creed of non-violence and secularism and, therefore, could not become the national anthem. Tagore, who composed the tune of the song in 1896, expressed serious reservations about the song and during the celebration of his 70th birthday gave a call of Vande Vratanam instead of Vande Mataram. The Muslims objected to the song also as it was a salutation to Goddess Durga.

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Orthodox Hindus felt that the song’s historical background and its total integration with the nationalist cause made it ideal as a national anthem. In the midst of this controversy, Subhas Chandra Bose privately solicited Tagore’s views on the song. The poet replied that Vande Mataram was appropriate as part of Anandamath, a literary work, but that it was inappropriate as a National Anthem. He added in a letter to Subhas “the core........

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