AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi has objected to the Union Cabinet’s decision to give “Vande Mataram” the same legal protection as the national anthem “Jana Gana Mana”. The Hyderabad MP said the song cannot be considered the same hymn as it is an ode to the goddess.
A nation does not run in the name of a god or goddess and does not belong to one god or goddess, Owaisi said.
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“Jana Gana Mana celebrates India and its people, not a particular religion. Religion ≠ nation. The man who wrote Vande Mataram sympathized with the British Raj and despised Muslims. Netaji Bose, Gandhi, Nehru and Tagore all rejected it,” Owaisi said in a post on X, where he shared a news report about the Vande Mana Mataram Union government approving Gamma’s plan to approve the Gana plan.
Referring to the Indian Constitution, Owaisi said the preamble begins with “We the People” – not “Bharat Maa”. It promises “freedom of thought, expression, faith, belief and worship”.
The very first provision of the Constitution, Article 1, describes “India, that is Bharat” as a Union of States, he said.
In the Constituent Assembly, some members wanted the preamble to begin in the name of the goddess, specifically invoking Vande Mataram. Others wanted it to start “In the name of God” and replace “his citizens” with “her citizens”. However, all these amendments were rejected, Owaisi said.
“India, that is, Bharat, is its people. A nation is not a goddess, it does not run in the name of a god or goddess, and it does not belong to one god or goddess,” he said.
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Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao objected to Owaisi’s objections to the government’s decision, saying that the AIMIM leadership sees any form of cultural integration as a threat to religious exclusivism.
It is not limited to Owaisi, even Jinnah followed the same trajectory, he said.
Jinnah had no objection to Vande Mataram during the early phase of his political career as a member of the Congress and his opposition emerged only after he left the Congress, he said.
“What does this tell us? Once politics becomes dependent on religious exclusivism, every symbol of civilization is portrayed as a threat,” Rao said in a post on X.
The proposal is to amend the National Honor Act to prevent insults, which would put the National Song Vande Mataram composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee on par with the National Anthem Jana Gana Mana.
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A nation does not run in the name of a god or goddess and does not belong to one god or goddess.
Currently, insults to the Indian National Flag and the Constitution of India and preventing the singing of the National Anthem are punishable by imprisonment or fine or both. According to a proposal tabled before a cabinet meeting chaired by Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Vande Mataram would be included in this list, making non-compliance a cognizable offence.
