Hmmm.....
He should not have walked out IMO. We are also learned to respect other cultures and religions. Its fine not to sing it, but standing there still and respecting others feelings would have been better.
Btw, Why not just sing your national anthem instead of having a national song in Vande Mataram? (Dont know much history behind it tbh.)
Can anyone tell me what's the exact difference between National Anthem and National Song? If there's this much issue with our National Song among different religions why can't it be replaced by our National Anthem? India being secular and cosmopolitan should take care of all religions and religious feelings.
AFAIK the National Anthem is the identity of a nation.
On the Contrary regarding 'Vande Mataram', it has the word Ma or Mother in it and I am proud to say that I bow (the ultimate respect) to my mother. I doubt if anyone from any faith will feel guilty in bowing to his/her mother. And if there are some then God Bless them.
There is some history to this.
First, about the song.
It was featured in an historical novel by the Bengali author Bankimchandra Chattopadhyaya, whose novels make me think of Walter Scott, although their language flows far more easily than Scott's does. The novel, Ananda Math, was about a
math or monastery, whose monks were fanatics and fought the British ferociously for some years, before they were ruthlessly suppressed. The actual historical roots of this are known as the Sanyasi Rebellion, one of a series of such rebellions during the early stages of British rule in Bengal.
The character who sings the song is a rabid Hindu fanatic, whose extreme views frighten the protagonist and his wife. After initially following the sanyasis, they find their way out of a very difficult situation, surrounded by fanatics and extreme elements, who are slaughtered by the British when they put their minds to it, after the sanyasis have won early isolated encounters. This is creative license at its best; the author is not reflecting his own views, although the song has sublime elements and beautiful music, he is reflecting the view of a fringe element.
In other novels, for instance, Durgeshnandini,
The Daughter of the Castellan, as it might be put in English, Bankimchandra paints a beautiful portrait of a young Afghan princeling who is the epitome of chivalry, and generous and protective even of his rival, the Rajput prince, son of a great and renowned father. The wounded Rajput is taken into his household, where his beautiful sister Ayesha nurses him back to health, and from where finally he makes his way back to his own troops, to lead Akbar's soldiers in the eviction of the Afghans who ruled Bengal, Bihar and Odisha in those days. Nobody who was an Islamophobe could have painted the young Afghan as such a dashing warrior with a sense of chivalry out of the romances of old, generous and forgiving to his enemy. When the Rajput prince finally marries the Chieftain's daughter, Ayesha appears unexpectedly, makes her way into the bride's chambers and decks her up in a glorious array of jewellery of her own, before vanishing.
There were harsh and merciless Muslims as well, and that was precisely how princes were in those brutal times. Yet Bankimchandra painted this touching picture of nobility and grace and a valiant courage which defied the odds, a truly affecting characterisation, on the young Afghan and his sister.
So much for the silly stories about Bankimchandra being anti-Islamic. He was patriotic, and impatient to see the end of occupants of his land, whether central Asian or European, but no religious bigot. In fact, he had a colourful personal life, though a Brahmin of high family and a sub-Deputy Magistrate under the British, in those days a very high post.
Second, the song and its history in the national movement for independence.
It was picked up initially during the first partition of Bengal, 1905, when the Bengalis took to the streets against Curzon's imperious and disdainful partition of the huge province, which ran from Bihar to Odisha, and included all of Bengal, today's west Bengal and Bangladesh both inclusive. However, this was the point of time when the Muslims first began to feel uneasy, and in 1906, at a meeting of Muslims from all over India at Dhaka, formed the Muslim League. They were not entirely certain that this partition was bad for them; in fact, on balance, it seemed that they would get better opportunities of education than otherwise was the case. And by then, they were already faltering badly compared to the Hindus in the matter of modern (=Macaulayite=English) education. The Hindus had taken it up nearly 80 years earlier; the Muslims lagged very badly, and were quite aware of it. The Dhaka meeting was originally a meeting on how to progress the education of Muslims, a thinly-veiled concern at lagging in modern education.
The song gave the patriots a slogan, Vande Mataram, Praise the Mother, Hail the Mother, which was the call-sign, and was actually banned by the British. This slogan persisted right through the independence movement, and was sure to attract the deadliest attention of the British whenever it was sounded. The Muslims were hesitant then, and are hesitant now, due to a concern about falling into schism directly or indirectly; a concern, in my opinion, highly exaggerated and misplaced, but that is my opinion, and many otherwise patriotic Muslims abstained from this slogan, indirectly, from the song itself.
Third, the story of the National Anthem and the National Hymn.
There was, and is, one and only one National Anthem, and that is Tagore's lovely paean to the country and its spirit. When it was selected, however, the old revolutioniaries were thrown into uproar and agitation. What of their slogan, the one under which they had mobilised in their millions? Was it to be forgotten for ever?
The authorities, caught completely unawares by the strength of the opposition to the exclusion of the song, hastily prepared a compromise: it should be the National Hymn, whatever that meant, and be given honour and importance equal to the Anthem. But whenever it was needed, it was the Anthem that was sounded, never the Hymn. However, with its deeply emotional evocation of the spirit of the land, its passionately expressed love for the motherland, it soon became a regular at some schools and colleges, and with some emotional people.
Ironically, today, the arch-enemies of the Congress, the descendants of the Hindu Mahasabha and the RSS, the BJP, finds it its duty to defend the Hymn to the last lumpen loafer in their order of battle. These were the ones who held back, who grizzled from the sidelines, who felt it their duty to save themselves up to fall upon and maim a Muslim wherever a chance presented itself. No wonder the song got a bad name.
A wholly undeserved bad name.
