AN ironic but unsurprising coincidence marked the beginning of the winter session of Parliament. The Modi government decided to have a long discussion on ‘Vande Mataram’, which PM Modi, Amit Shah and others from the government side used to sing paeans of fulsome praise for the nationalism and sacrifice of freedom fighters inspired by the National Song, A few days later, the Modi Cabinet announced that 100 per cent Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) would be allowed in the insurance sector, up from the current 74 per cent. Nothing could be more hypocritical than giving long tedious speeches on patriotism even as you are hollowing out the country’s economy by handing over one sector after another to profit-hungry foreign monopolies. But then, the Modi government makes no bones about being a servitor of multinational capital. In its over 11 years of rule, Modi has thrown open sectors like pension, asset reconstruction, broadcasting, pharmaceuticals, single brand retail, construction & development, power, e-commerce, coal mining, digital media, civil aviation, defence, petroleum & natural gas, telecom and space for more and more foreign investment. Yet, on December 8, Messrs. Modi and Shah were talking about the glorious freedom struggle (in which their mentor, RSS did not participate) and the way Vande Mataram had become a clarion call of a patriotic upsurge. In the process, they both homed in on their favourite theme of blaming the Congress – specifically India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru. Flying against well documented facts, Modi alleged that Nehru decided to retain only two stanzas of the full song to appease the Muslims thus setting in motion a process that led to the Partition.

Why did the BJP want to discuss the National Song at all? And, why use it to blame Nehru? For the answers, let us delve a bit deeper.

BRIEF HISTORY OF VANDE MATARAM

Originally only two stanzas were written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee around 1875. It remained unpublished and hardly anybody knew about it. Bankim Chandra expanded the song and included it in his famous novel Anand Math published in 1882. The song in its expanded version had acquired a new Hindu imagery and portrayed Bharat Mata as a goddess with several hands holding weapons, etc. It was popularised first by Rabindranath Tagore who gave it its present musical form. Tagore has written that he first sang it publicly at the Congress Session at Calcutta in 1896.

In the Swadeshi Movement of 1907-08 following the partition of Bengal in 1905, the song was used extensively, including famously by Tagore singing it while leading a procession. Subsequently, it spread to many states, was translated in all languages, and became embedded in the seething freedom struggle. By all accounts, it was the first two stanzas that were sung popularly, and the slogan “Vande Mataram!” became a war cry or salutation, or even a jibe at the British. While it was used by the Congress regularly, the Hindutva lobby, led by the Hindu Mahasabha in later years signified its Hindu interpretation – of the beautiful, armed goddess that was Bharat Mata.

Anand Math was a tale based on the Sanyasi Rebellion of 1770 in which Bankim Chandra had infused a Hindu extremist sentiment. The expanded song was moulded accordingly by him. While the first two stanzas describe the munificent land, the flowers, the flowing waters, the cooling winds and the harvests, the subsequent stanzas hail the Mother as Durga, the goddess, holding ten weapons of war, etc. Its popularity coincided with increasing rancour and tension between Hindu and Muslim fanatic elements, both of whom were trying to influence the freedom struggle in their own ways. And the Muslim League under Jinnah did seize the Vande Mataram song as a point of contention, pointing out repeatedly that it was unacceptable to Muslims because of its idolatrous imagery. This view gained widespread currency among Muslims. Not surprisingly, the British were pleased at this increasing bitterness between the two communities and even advised its officers not to interfere with the disputes about singing Vande Mataram.

Modi in his speech in Parliament gave an erroneous account when he said that Jinnah wrote a letter on October 15, 1937 protesting against the song and Nehru “within five days” wrote to Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose that he agreed with Jinnah that Muslims are disturbed by the song. Subsequently, as per Modi, the Congress Working Committee meeting in Kolkata on October 26, decided to remove all but the two initial stanzas. This is far from truth, as documented extensively in historical records.

In October 1937, Nehru wrote to Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose about 'the present outcry against Vande Mataram', stating that this was 'to a large extent a manufactured one by the communalists. At the same time there does seem some substance in it and people who were communalistically inclined have been affected by it. Whatever we do cannot be to pander to communalist feeling but to meet real grievances where they exist.' (Quoted in “Vande Mataram – The Biography of a Song” by historian Sabyasachi Bhattacharya; Penguin; 2003; p.31) Rajendra Prasad also noted this in a letter to Sardar Patel. Subhash Chandra Bose was exercised over the issue and wrote to Nehru to which Nehru responded on October 20, 1937, by saying that on reading Anandmath “It does seem that this background is likely to irritate the Muslims.” He also said that the words of the song are very difficult to understand. Ultimately Nehru told Subhash Chandra Bose that he would consult Rabindranath Tagore on the matter.

Tagore wrote back to Nehru saying that the first two stanzas were acceptable but not the rest of it. He writes: “I freely concede that the whole of Bankim's 'Vande Mataram' poem, read together with its context, is liable to be interpreted in ways that might wound Moslem susceptibilities, but a national song, though derived from it, which has spontaneously come to consist only of the first two stanzas of the original poem, need not remind us every time of the whole of it, much less of the story with which it was accidentally associated. It has acquired a separate individuality and an inspiring significance of its own in which I see nothing to offend any sect or community.” (ibid. p.34)

Based on this advise by the biggest authority – Gurudev Tagore – the Congress Working Committee decided that the first two stanzas would be sung at ‘national gatherings.’ It also set up a subcommittee to consider substitutes from compositions submitted, which comprised Abul Kalam Azad, Jawaharlal Nehru, Subhas Bose, and Narendra Dev, with a further proviso that the committee would take the advice of Rabindranath Tagore.

Thus, the allegation that Nehru scrapped the rest of the stanzas under pressure from Jinnah is a figment of imagination of the RSS and Modi. It was a considered opinion of stalwarts of the freedom struggle, and its purpose was to build a widest possible unity of the people at a critical juncture of the freedom struggle. Subsequently, as we all know, the Constituent Assembly adopted ‘Jan Gan Mana’ as the national anthem and accorded the status of national song to ‘Vande Mataram’.

THE RSS/BJP GAMEPLAN

There were three main reasons behind the Modi government’s decision to have a debate in Parliament on Vande Mataram, ostensibly to mark its 150^th anniversary, although nobody knows for sure when it was written: one, to use Bankim Chandra and Vande Mataram for inciting communal polarization in poll bound Bengal, by portraying the writer and his famous song as symbols of the Sanatani- nationalist discourse; two, to do the same generally for the rest of the country as part of spreading the toxic RSS ideology and pretending to be part of the freedom struggle; and three, to distract the people’s attention from the economic crisis and governance failures that the government is mired in.

However, facts that were highlighted in the Parliament debate by many members, as also in media commentaries, have clearly shown that the Prime Minister himself was culpable of being “economical with truth” as historian Mridula Mukherjee politely put it in an interview to The Wire. The wild claim that omitting two stanzas started the policy of appeasement that led to Partition is recognized by all as laughably ridiculous. In fact, the whole narrative manufactured by Modi-Shah is an insult to the tallest leaders of the freedom struggle and thus to the millions of people who struggled for freedom. The invocation of innumerable sacrifices by freedom fighters and the people of India by members of an organization that never took part in the struggle, and indeed, often deliberately kept aloof from the mainstream, and which was ultimately banned because of their suspected involvement in the assassination of Mahatma Gandhi, is transparent deception – and seen as such by most people.

The desperation of the BJP to win the Bengal Assembly elections has been evident for the past several years, especially in its crude attempts to spread hatred against minorities, its hijacking of religious festivals, and its foolish attempts to impose the Sanatani ‘culture’ on a land that is imbued with a far richer history and cultural sensibility. To use Bankim Chandra – ‘Bankim Da’ to Modi and Bankim Das to his acolytes! – as a vehicle to increase its popularity, and in the process even challenge Gurudev Tagore himself is a sign of that desperation, as also a sign of their utter failure.

As to the insidious attempt to divert the attention of the country from its disastrous economic policies, there can be no doubt that it has spectacularly failed. Apart from RSS members and andh-bhakts sustained by WhatsApp teachings, no Indian can accept the slow mortgaging of the country’s sovereignty to multinational capital, the growing embrace of US and Israel in defence dealings, the hollowing out of public sector, the crushing of working class by the new labour codes meant to sell India’s labour as cheaply as possible, the raging joblessness that is acting as death by a thousand cuts for the millions of youth, the proposed Viksit Bharat G RAM G Bill meant to replace MGNREGA, and the continued misery of education and healthcare getting priced out of the common person’s reach due to privatization.

BJP government at the Centre and its state governments are facing a rising tide of discontent from all sections of people, and in all parts of the country. No amount of event management skills or ideological trickery can save them in the coming years.