‘Vande Mataram’ and Communal Harmony in India

‘Vande Mataram’ and Communal Harmony in India

brotee mukhopadhyay

It has again raised its venom-spraying head. It has again raised its head to pollute whatever is still left in the sphere of peace and amity between the Hindus and the Muslims. It is again an attempt to deteriorate the existing harmony between the two major religious communities in India.

Deoband national convention meet, on November 3, 2009, has passed a resolution against ‘Vande Mataram’, the national song of India. ‘Vande Mataram’ has been accepted as the national song by the constitution of India. Jamait-e-Ulema Hind has issued a mandate against singing ‘Vande Mataram’. Jamait-e-Ulema Hind is not ready to accept this song. It has discovered that the song is against the tenets of Islam as Islam does not allow worshipping of anything other than Allah.

It is difficult to comprehend how the authority of the Muslim people in India tends to miss rationality. ‘Vande Mataram’ is a Sanskrit phrase used in a song. The original song may be read in the ‘Anandamath’, a Bengali novel by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay. Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay has written this novel in 1884. The song and particularly the phrase ‘Vande Mataram’ have inspired the Indian people during the glorious freedom struggle against the British rule. People with this phrase on the lips have faced enormous persecution which has been let loose by the imperialist British. Thus the song and the phrase have secured an honorable space in the Indian history.

Secondly, one should accept the lexicon. The term ‘Vande’ has its root in the basic verb ‘Vand’ meaning admire. ‘Vandana’ is in its noun form meaning admiration/praise. Hence it is not natural to raise voice of difference or protest or instigation just distorting the actual meaning/sense of the phrase. One may be happy in the thought that it is pleasant to admire mother and even that it is pleasant to worship her. It is not at all clear then why such objections/mandates will surface time and again. Who will be happy to witness an escalation of communal tension as a result of such provocation? Religions and religious beliefs are something very grave and serious. ‘Vande Mataram’ does not belong to the same domain. Indian nation has been at present engaged in some serious problems which need sincere consideration instead of the national song beginning with the phrase ‘Vande Mataram’.

Well, let everyone accept that the people having faith in Islam will not sing the song ‘Vande Mataram’. Parallel to this let us also approve that people who do not have faith in Islam have the right to sing it.

Sad it is that the said Deoband convention has been addressed by none other that the honorable Home Minister of India and he is Mr. P. Chidambaram and that he has not uttered a single word against pronunciation of such a mandate.

One should allow people of different communities to breathe in peace.