STATE TIMES NEWS
NEW DELHI: Vande Mataram is a symbol of India’s nationalist ethos and it is wrong to associate it with any particular religion or sect.
This was stated here today by Union Minister of State (Independent Charge) for Development of North Eastern Region (DoNER) and MoS PMO, Dr Jitendra Singh while releasing a book tracing the Journey of Vande Mataram since the time of its creation, over the years, through different phases.
The book written by Akhilesh Jha and Rashmita Jha particularly focuses on the references to Vande Mataram during the proceedings of the Constituent Assembly and the Indian Parliament, and at the same time, also traces the musical versions of Vande Mataram through recorded sounds and gramophone over the last one-and-a-half century.
Speaking on the occasion, Singh recalled that Vande Mataram first came to be known in the form of a poem composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1870’s which was later included in the author’s 1881 novel Anandamath, but what is most significant is that several verses of the song were adopted as the National Song in early 20th century and the same later became a popular marching song for political activists and crusaders of India’s freedom movement.
To this extent, Singh said, Vande Mataram can be appropriately described as a symbol which united people of India from different regions, different religions and different faiths, and inspired them to come together for the common cause of Mother India. He said, in whatever form or music the Vande Mataram is sung, the common and consistent chord is that in every form or format, it reflects the patriotic mood and nationalist ethos of India.
Singh also suggested that a soft copy of the book may be uploaded so that it could be used for wider circulation through social media, particularly among the younger generation who may otherwise not be able to visualize the kind of patriotic fervor and magic which this single song written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay could inspire among successive generations of Indians during the turbulent years of pre-Independence and immediate post-Independence India.
