150th Anniversary of India’s National Song | 07 Nov 2025

Source: PIB 

Why in News? 

The Prime Minister inaugurated year-long celebrations marking 150 years of Vande Mataram on 7^th November 2025. The national song “Vande Mataram” composed by Bankimchandra Chatterji, is believed to have been written on Akshaya Navami on 7th November 1875. 

What are the Key Facts About Vande Mataram? 

• Vande Mataram: Also pronounced “Bande Mataram,” It is composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Vande Mataram was first published in the literary journal Bangadarshan on 7th November 1875 and later included in his immortal novel Anandamath (1882).  
  • Set to music by Rabindranath Tagore, it became a powerful symbol of India’s cultural and political identity, embodying unity, sacrifice, and devotion. 
• National Song Status: First two verses were adopted in 1937 as India’s National Song by the Congress Working Committee. 
  • On 24^th January 1950, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, the first President of India, announced that while Jana Gana Mana would be the  National Anthem, Vande Mataram, for its key role in the freedom movement, would be honoured equally as the National Song. 
  • India’s Constitution does not explicitly mention a national song. However, Article 51A(a) asks citizens to respect the Constitution, National Flag and National Anthem. 

Vande Mataram - Song of Resistance & Collective Consciousness 

• Vande Mataram became the battle cry of resurgent nationalism, symbolising devotion to the motherland and resistance against colonial rule. 
  • The British recognised its ability to unite people, and in many places, banned its public singing or display. 
• Adoption by Congress: In 1896, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore sang Vande Mataram at the Kolkata session of the Indian National Congress. Soon, its first two stanzas became a routine part of Congress gatherings. 
  • It was also sung during the proclamation of the Provisional Government of Azad Hind. 
  • At the Varanasi session of the Indian National Congress (1905), the song 'Vande Mataram' was adopted for all-India occasions. 
• Bande Mataram Sampradaya: Formed in October 1905 in North Calcutta to promote devotion to the Motherland. 
  • Members held Prabhat Pheris every Sunday, singing Vande Mataram and collecting voluntary donations. 
• Bande Mataram-A English Daily: In August 1906, the English daily Bande Mataram was started under Bipin Chandra Pal, with Sri Aurobindo later joining as joint editor, it became a major nationalist voice, spreading ideas of self-reliance, unity, and resistance to colonial rule. 
  • Thinkers like Sri Aurobindo believed Vande Mataram carried spiritual force and awakened collective consciousness, making its recitation both a political and spiritual act. 
• Vande Mataram During Partition of Bengal: Vande Mataram was first used as a political slogan on 7th August 1905 during student processions in Calcutta’s Town Hall, sparking the swadeshi and anti-partition movement in Bengal. 
  • In 1905, during the anti-partition movement in Bengal, nearly 40,000 people gathered at Calcutta Town Hall and sang Vande Mataram in protest.  
  • Its influence was so strong that Lord Curzon ordered police to arrest anyone who sang it, highlighting its political impact. 
• Vande Mataram Movement of Gulbarga: It was a major student-led protest in the Hyderabad–Karnataka region.  
  • After the British banned the song in November, 1938 students from colleges such as Osmania University and Gulbarga University defiantly sang it, leading to house arrests and expulsions.  
  • The British deployed police across campuses to contain the movement. 
• Influence on Indian Revolutionaries Abroad:  In 1907, Madam Bhikaji Cama raised the tricolour flag for the first-time outside India in Stuttgart, Berlin. The words Vande Mataram were written on the flag. 
  • In August 1909, when Madan Lal Dhignra was hanged in England, his last words before he went to the gallows were “Bande Mataram.” 
  • In 1909, Indian patriots in Paris undertook the publication of a magazine called Bande Mataram from Geneva. 
  • In October 1912, Gopal Krishna Gokhale was welcomed in Cape Town with a grand procession chanting “Vande Mataram.”