‘Sowed the seeds of Partition’: PM Modi slams Congress for removing ‘important stanzas’ from Vande Mataram
Prime Minister Narendra Modi quoted a shortened version of “Vande Mataram” at the November 7 launch of the 150‑year celebration of the National Song, and that decision sparked strong political criticism.
A similar barrage of jibes appeared in Parliament on Monday while the Lok Sabha debated the commemoration.
The Congress has long accused the party of having removed “important stanzas” from “Vande Mataram” during its 1937 Faizabad session.
Modi said that move “sowed the seeds of Partition.”
The Congress counters that the removal was carried out on the recommendation of the Congress Working Committee at the time.
The panel that approved the removal included Mahatma Gandhi, Jawaharlal Nehru, Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Subhas Chandra Bose, Rajendra Prasad, Abul Kalam Azad, Sarojini Naidu and others.
The party said the decision was in line with advice from Rabindranath Tagore.
During Monday’s debate, Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra maintained that the original verse, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay around 1875, contained the lines still found in the National Song.
She added that when Chattopadhyay published his novel Anandamath in 1882, he incorporated the song and expanded it with new paragraphs.
The novel follows a group of “Sanyasis” (Hindu ascetics) who call themselves “Santan” (children) of their motherland, dedicating their lives to its behalf.
They worship the motherland as a Mother goddess, expressing devotion exclusively to their native land.
In Anandamath, the Santans perform the song, using “Vande Mataram” as a greeting to praise the Motherland.
The ascetics placed three depictions of the Mother separately: one as grand and glorious, one in darkness, and one that will shine in pristine glory.
The opening stanza—“Vande Mataram; Sujalaṃ suphalaṃ; Malayajasitalam; Sasyasyamalam; Mataram; Vande Mataram”—can be loosely rendered as: “I bow before you Mother whose lands are fertile, with abundant food and water, where the wind is cool and delightful, and crops wave in the fields.”
Chattopadhyay explains the song through the words of a “Santan” in Anandamath.
The character Bhabananda is calm and composed like a sanyasi but can become a brave, skilled warrior when needed.
Bhabananda further sings an ode to the Motherland in all her glory, praising her life‑nurturing voice:
“Subhra‑jyotsna‑pulakita‑yaminim; Phullakusumita‑drumadalasobhinim; Suhasiniṃ sumadhurabhasinim; Sukhadaṃ varadaṃ Mataram; Vande Mataram.”
During this moment, Mahendra—the protagonist rescued by the Santans from British sepoys—interjects, pointing out that the song celebrates the country, not merely a mother.
Bhabananda replies that “Janani Janmabhumishcha Swargadapi Gariyasi” (My motherland is greater than Heaven) describes their sole home, “Sujalaṃ suphalaṃ; Malayajasitalam; Sasyasyamalam.”
He then describes an image emerging with knowledge, religion, life, power, and devotion, whose idols are enshrined in temples.
Near the end, Bhabananda begins to weep, and Mahendra, who had earlier seen him as a bandit, is astonished and seeks his true identity.
“We’re Santan (children),” Bhabananda says.
Thus the “controversial” portion centers on the devotion to one Mother—the birthplace—above any other personal or private connection.
From the 1930s onward, religion has sparked debate over the song.
When Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League protested the lyrics, alleging references to Hindu goddesses, they claimed it led to the song’s truncation—a conflict that endures nearly eight decades after independence in a country that calls itself secular.
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