December 8, 2025
Mahua Moitra’s speech during the discussion on the 150th anniversary of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’
Thank you, hon. Chairperson Sir. Why are we all gathered here today? It is simply because the Government of the day wishes to have a discussion on our National Song – Vande Mataram in the 150th year of its birth. हमेनेआपकी बात को ध्यान सेसना ह ु ै। िाजनार् जी औि पी एमे साहब दोोनं नेआपनी बात सदोन मेंिखी है। “बहुत खबसु ूित हैबात लेधकन अगि धदोल भी होता तो क्या बात होती।” The irony is not lost on us Parliamentarians present here, or on the billion-plus Indians we represent, that we are living in an India today where real unemployment among the youth is upwards of 20 per cent; where we are choking in a national capital with AQI levels routinely over 800; when the Centre is purposefully starving non-BJP States of their MGNREGA, housing and water dues; and where millions of people are being subjected to a hurried, arbitrary process of mass disenfranchisement. When, session after session, we in the Opposition are bullied, browbeaten and prevented from raising pressing issues of national importance, suddenly the Government finds it so important, so necessary, so urgent to discuss the historical complexities of a song. What is even more ironic is the claim that the hate and divisiveness in today’s India can be linked back to this song. By the way, just two weeks ago, on 24th November 2025, So, Vande Mataram, in your view as of last week – placed on record in a Parliamentary Bulletin, is a slogan. A slogan that was both indecorous and non-serious, and yet you suddenly want to discuss it for 10 hours in this House. Why? I will tell you why, because no doubt some … BJP IT Cell minion has probably advised you that the Vande Mataram card, if played right, will give the BJP an advantage in the 2026 Bengal elections. There is no other reason behind the timing of this discussion – none at all. Take it from me. We are delighted not only to have this fabulous opportunity to give you a history lesson, but also to demonstrate to you how delving into Vande Mataram will only prove how removed you are from the soul of Bengal, from the psyche of Bengal, and how our ‘Maa’ will never be hostage to your narrow electoral goals. Let the history lesson begin. What do you say? Let it begin. Shri Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s two-stanza hymn, Vande Mataram, was first published in the literary journal ‘Bongo Dorshon’ on 7th November, 1875. At that time, there were no patriotic societies or nationalist organizations in India, except for the Indian League in Calcutta, which was founded by patriotic Bengalis – Shishir Ghosh,Anand Mohan Bose and Surendranath Banerjee, to rally public support against British colonial rule. The RSS and the BJP were nowhere in sight. The RSS was formed 50 years later, in 1925; and the BJP was formed 105 years later, in 1980. Incidentally, the ruling party – the Sangh Parivar do not sing Vande Mataram. I remember this hilarious episode in 2017, I think it was, on TV,where a BJP spokesperson called … was asked to sing Vande Mataram. He kept looking at his mobile phone, and even then, he could not sing it. Also, in August 2017, I remember a Cabinet Minister in the UP Government, … was unable to correctly sing the song on a TV news show. In January 2019, before the last Lok Sabha election, BJP leaders held a protest where they attempted to make Muslims sing the song. They themselves could not sing the song correctly. So, the meeting thus ended into chaos and the BJP leaders and their followers chanted slogans like “Is Desh me agar rehna hoga, to Vande Matram kehna hoga”. So, frankly, the BJPs commitment to this song is a badly scripted comedy. The British banned the use of this slogan ‘Vande Matram’ under the sedition laws and banned singing it in any public place. When India’s youngest freedom fighter, Bengal’s brave son, Khudiram Bose was led to the gallows in 1908, he had Vande Matram on his lips. When in 1927 Ram Prasad Bismil walked to the gallows in Gorakhpur jail, when Ashfaqullah Khan walked to the gallows in Faizabad jail, they all had Vande Matram on their lips. But this is the same slogan that the … finds non-decorous and non-serious in the … Who, in the BJP, who in the RSS, and who in the Treasury Benches can claim even a tenuous link to the freedom struggle that today you feel you are the guardians of Vande Matram and will teach us Bengalis and the rest of India what its significance is? Out of 585 total prisoners in Andaman Cellular Jail – Kaalapani – between 1909 and 1938, about 68 per cent, 398 were Bengalis. The second largest contingent was from the Punjab, 95 revolutionaries. Why did you not rename the cellular Jail after Barin Ghosh, after Ullaskar Dutt, after Indu Bhushan Roy? What homage have you paid to Bengal? What homage have you paid to the land of Vande Matram? Today, you are having a discussion on this. The hymn Vande Matram did not gain much popularity till it was included in Bankim Chandra Chattopadyay’s novel Anandmath in 1882 when it was published. Now, when he published it, he added four extra stanzas to it. The first two stanzas which he had written in 1875 were a lyrical ode to the motherland. It says, ‘giver of bliss, beauty’. The version in the novel which incorporated in1881-82 had a different tone than that of the original poem. The figure of sweetness and light was now endowed with a fearsome ecodrama and trappings of war, almost. But this is a keeping with the narrative of the novel which was about the Sanyasi Rebellion. It is important to note here that in the next four stanzas that he wrote, Bankim Chandra Chattopadyay used the words sapta koti – which means seven crore. Now, seven crore in the 1871 Census was the population of undivided Bengal, Bihar, Odisha and Assam. So, this means that the the hymn was about Bengal and the mother he refers to is also in Bengal’s concept and Bengal’s context. This was not originally written as a pan-India song. It was not. Let us be very clear about that. So, how did it become this national song? How does A.R. Rehman sing it in 1997? How? It was none other than the Poet Laureate Rabindranath Tagore who composed the first musical call of the song based on ‘Desh Ragini’ around 1885. Rishi Bankim liked the song and the tune so much, he himself included it in the third edition of his book ‘Anandmath’ in 1886. Tagore in 1937 writes to Nehru, “The privilege of originally setting its first stanza to the tune was mine when the author was still alive,” Bankim died in 1894, he says, “I set the tune while Bankim was still alive. And I was the first person to sing it.” So, Tagore was the first person to sing it publicly before a public gathering of the Kolkata Congress in 1896. So, Tagore sets the tune and he sings it publicly in the presence of Rahimtulla Sayani, Dadabhai Naoroji, Surendra Nath Banerjee. When did the song gain mass popularity? Only after 1905 when the Swadeshi Movement as a reaction to Lord Curzon’s partition of Bengal took place, the itinerary singers sung in Prabhat Pheris every morning to raise national consciousness. Rabindranath Tagore himself on Raksha Bandhan day, 16th October, 1905 led the famous anti-partition protest where Hindus and Muslims tied Rakhis on each other and said Vande Matram. Today, this BJP Government which claims to promote Vande Matram has ensured that even the moon, that moon of Raksha Purnima, that moon of Eid has been partitioned. Hindu women can break their Karva Chauth fast on their roof with the sighting of the moon but a Muslim in a BJP-ruled State is forbidden from offering Eid ka Namaz on his roof to the same moon. And you are blaming a song for India’s divisiveness. The song was sung again during the Congress session in Banaras in 1905, by Tagore’s niece, Sarala Devi Choudhurani, who replaced the saptkoti, the seven crores, with tringsho koti, which means 30 crores, which is the population of India in the last census of 1901. So, this is the first time that the song is gathering a pan-national appeal. Gandhiji, in the Indian Opinion paper, wrote in December 1905: “This song is so popular, just as we worship our mother; so is this song a passionate prayer to India.” Tagore continued to use the refrain “Vande Mataram” almost as a slogan in some of his own songs. He says it in many of his own songs: “Ek sutre bnaadhiyachhi sahosro jibon”. Many of his own songs use the term “Vande Mataram”. The Swadeshi agitation of 1905 and 1908 saw “Vande Mataram” as a clarion call. The great Tamil poet, Subrahmaniya Bharati translated it in Tamil in 1905. It began to be sung in meetings and processions all over India, from coastal Andhra Pradesh, from Vijayawada to the canals and cantonments of Punjab where after Jallianwala Bagh where they did not think of it as a Sanskrit-Bengali hymn but a shared call of resistance. You, this Government today, claim to be the guardians, the true upholders of the spirit of “Vande Mataram”’. We have listened to the Prime Minister for an hour; and we have listened to the hon. Defence Minister for an hour tell us about how they are the true upholders of “Vande Mataram”. So let me, as a true Bengali, as a proud Bengali, speak for Dosh Koti Bengalis today, who this Government call Bangladeshis, and Rohingyas. This Government harasses us on the streets, and in colonies. This Government throws us out when we are pregnant across the border. I am going to dissect the song, stanza by stanza, and demonstrate how this Government is butchering both the spirit and the soul of ‘Vande Mataram’, far more than any 1937 Resolution ever did. Sujalam Suphalam Malayaja Sheetalam Shasya Shyaamalam Maataram. What do we have here? What have they done on your watch? “Sujalam”, which means, beautiful abundant water. Over 70 per cent of India’s surface water is undrinkable today. India ranks 120th out of 122 countries in the Water Quality Index, and 21 major cities, including Delhi and Bangalore, are expected to deplete their groundwater reserves by 2030. And yet, in the face of this data, the Government is cutting the Jal Jeevan Mission money to all the states. Bengal itself is owed Rs. 3,000 crore in Jal Jeevan Mission money. This is what you are doing for “Sujalam”. “Malayaja shitalam”, which means, the cool fresh air. This is a joke. The AQI in the National Capital today is between 800 and 1,000 routinely. Our children are choking, and the elderly are dying. You know what the Centre has done? The Centre has exempted 78 per cent of thermal power plants from installing key anti-polluting systems.The Environment Ministry has spent less than one per cent of its Rs.858 crore pollution funds in 2024-25. The fossil fuel driven pollution claims 1.72 million lives in India, and premature mortality due to outdoor air pollution costs India $339 billion. That is 9.5 per cent of our GDP. That is what we are doing for “Malayaja shitalam” “Shasyashyamalam”, which means, the blessed fertility of the soil, what has the Government done? The Ministry of Agriculture and Farmer’s Welfare saw a reduction in its budget of two-and-a-half per cent this year. The Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojana meant for the poorest of farmers suffered a cut of Rs. 3,600 crore. It is estimated that 37 per cent of India’s land is affected by degradation. About two-thirds of soil samples collected from India are deficient in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium, and 85 per cent contain too little carbon for functioning soil systems. “Suhasinim sumadhura bhashinim”, which means, sweet smiles, sweet in speech. They, the ruling party, with their hate speech routinely call for violence against Muslims and minorities. From calls for genocide in Haridwar to open threats in rallies, they use terms like ‘vote bank’, infiltrators, ghuspaithiya, and describe those with more children as dog whistles. You impose Hindi on us. You call Bangla a Bangladeshi language. You have unleashed the worst kind of linguistic terrorism on all of us where people are scared to speak their mother tongue in the streets of Delhi, and in the streets of Gurgaon. There is no “sumadhura bhashinim” in today’s BJP. “Sukhadam varadam, Mataram”,means, give us happiness. Today, an arbitrary hurried exercise of your design is making the Election Commission force such work pressure that BLOs are committing suicide. And, what does the Election Commission say to us? They say: “Oh, it is in the line of duty. They should be happy doing it.” India is ranking 118 out of 147 countries in the 2025 World Happiness Report. To be a minority in India today is to be perpetually suspect, perpetually second-class and perpetually subordinate. Far from feeling happy, minorities are fearing the State instead of feeling protected by it… ‘Tumi Vidya, tumi Dharma’. Let us talk about ‘Vidya’ first. Under this Government, outlay for education is still at an abysmal 3.8 per cent, which is far below the six per cent envisaged by the NEP and far below other developed nations. Grants-in-aid for the All India Council of Technical Education has dropped nearly 61 per cent in the last two years. The UGC’s budget has been slashed by 47 per cent. Let us take the example of the Delhi University. The University of Delhi is grappling with the fund gap of Rs. 250 crore in this financial year. It needs Rs. 544 crore, the UGC has allocated just Rs. 313 crore. ‘Tumi Vidya’ does not seem so. Now, we come to ‘Tumi Dharma’. When Rishi Aurobindo translated the verses of ‘Vande Mataram’ into English in Karmayogin in 1909, he translated Dharma as conduct, not religion. Here was the root of the difference between a communalistic and a nationalistic interpretation and the political use of ‘Vande Mataram’ as a song, as a war cry. It is not a communalistic interpretation. It is a nationalistic interpretation and Rishi Bankim’s hymn Dharma signifies conduct. For a ruling party, for a Prime Minister, it should not just be Dharma, it should be Raj Dharma. I cannot help but remind this House of late Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, who in March 2002, when asked what a certain Chief Minister ought to do, famously said, राजधर्म का पालन कर। राजधर् ं मराजा के ललए है, शासक के ललए है। प्रजा-प्रजा र्ंभेद नहं हो सकता। न धर्म के आधार पर, न जालत के आधार पर, न सप्रदाय क ं े आधार पर। Hand on heart, tell this House, whether the Government is fulfilling its Dharma. No. Bahute Tumi Ma Shakti, Hridoye Tumi Ma Bhakti. Rishi Bankim said, faith should be in your heart and strength should be in your arms. This Government instead has moved faith into its arms. You have made ‘bahute bhakti’ with your brute force, with your majority and you are bulldozing your way into the national secular fabric and your heart is weak because our enemies are striking again and again. Yet, we are letting a President of a third country proudly proclaim over and over again that he blackmailed India into accepting a ceasefire. Amlangatulam, “which is without a stain, without compare”; where has the Government brought us today? Let me compare across some major global indices since 2014. The UN’s Report says inequality reduces India’s Human Development Index by 31 per cent, one of the highest losses in the region. In the World Press Freedom Index, India fell from 140 in 2014 to 151 today. On the World Economic Forum’s Global Gender Gap Index, India went from 114 in 2014 to 131 today. Most important, on the Global Hunger Index, which measures child malnutrition, India used to rank 55 out of 76 in 2014. Today, it
ranks 102 out of 123. So, we are certainly not without stain. Let me for once and for all debunk the Ruling Party’s false claim that a truncated song is always an insult. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was originally written as a Brahmo hymn in 1911 and first consisted of five stanzas. It was called Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata. Remember that the Brahmo Samaj was formed by Raja Ram Mohan Roy. This is the same Raja Ram Mohan Roy that Madhya Pradesh Higher Education Minister, Inder Singh Parmar called a British agent, a Dalal, working for religious conversion. If your party’s man is calling Raja Ram Mohan Roy a Dalal, I wonder what kind of higher education he can be responsible for. ‘Jana Gana Mana’ is also a truncated song. Of the five stanzas, only the first stanza is sung as a national anthem. The second stanza says, ‘Aharaha tobo ahoban priocharito, Shuni tobo udar bani, Hindu Boudho Shikh Jaino Paroshik Musalmano Christani’. This means something relatively simple. Tagore addresses Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhata, the maker of India’s destiny and here is a verse whose restoration would meet a strong symbol and a strong gesture against divisiveness. But, you are not bringing a resolution to bring that in. You are talking about what religious context you can view ‘Vande Mataram’ in. And this is where you have made the biggest mistake, Mr. Prime Minister. You ignited this entire debate as a distraction to take away from your Government’s failings, which I have demonstrated using the song’s lyrics as a key. But you do not stop there. One of the chief spokespersons of the BJP, a fellow MP here, went one stop further and said that this truncation was done at Nehru’s behest. He said he had learned this by reading a book by the historian Sachiv Bhattacharya. Mr. Chairperson, Sir, there is no such book. There is no historian called Sachiv Bhattacharya who has written a book on the history of Vande Mataram. He does not exist. He does not exist, except in the fertile manure that constitutes the MP’s imagination. There is a historian who has written a book about Vande Mataram and his name is Sabyasachi Bhattacharya, not Sachiv Bhattacharya. The BJP dare not refer to this book because if they do, they would have to admit that this very specific book says that the identity of the man who suggested that Vande Mataram be sung in a shortened version, so as not to provoke divisive action, is not Nehru. It is not Bose, it is Kobi Guru Ravindranath Tagore. So, let us set the record straight. Bhattacharya is clear. First Subhash Bose, then the members of the Congress Working Committee, convening for the Calcutta session of the Congress in 1937, wrote to Tagore, asking him his views on the song. To his reply, Tagore wrote: “The core of Vande Mataram is a hymn to Goddess Durga. This is plain, so there can be no debate about it. The novel Anandamath is a work of literature, and so the song is appropriate to it. But Parliament is a place of union for all religious groups, and there the song cannot be appropriate”. On October 26th, 1937, three days prior to the session, Gurudev wrote again to Nehru on this issue. He, with a special relation to Vande Mataram, suggested that the first two stanzas should be adopted, and his letter profoundly influenced the resolution. Sir, I want to read just last paragraph. Rishi Bankim was a highly complex mind, and Anandamath was not his final word on communal history. His last novel, Sitaram, imagines a Hindu realm, founded by a heroic and idealistic king who defeats his Muslim adversaries. However, he comes to embody and exceed all the evil attributed to Muslims, and all his Hindu associates abandoned him. So, if you have the guts to get into the issue, target the man who very wisely edited this song. It was neither Nehru nor Bose, it was Rabindranath Tagore. If you have the courage to withstand truth, fight an election in Bengal in 2026 by saying that Tagore was responsible for dividing India. Let us see where that takes you. Tagore is the one who sang ‘Vande Mataram’ publicly. He anchored it to the conscience of our nation. It was Bengal’s clarion call. It is no Jumla that the BJP can expropriate before an election. You try it and you will see what its consequences are. Ten crore Bengalis will rise, 20 crore arms, to teach you the real meaning of Vande Mataram.
