Vande Mataram was marginalised post Independence: Rajnath Singh

Defence Minister Rajnath Singh has said that Vande Mataram did not receive the justice it deserved and was marginalised after Independence. Singh made the remarks during a Lok Sabha discussion on the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. He said that in independent India, it was decided that the national anthem and national song “would be given equal status”. Jan Gan Man, the national anthem, became part of our culture, but Vande Mataram was “treated like an extra”. He said that justice was not done to Vande Mataram and that the national song had been sidelined.

VIDEO | Parliament Winter Session: Speaking in the Lok Sabha, Defence Minister Rajnath Singh said, "Vande Mataram did not receive the justice it deserved and was marginalised after Independence." pic.twitter.com/a6Q1afddvK

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Rajnath Singh also spoke about the historical importance of Vande Mataram. He said, “In 1906, India’s first flag was designed, and Vande Mataram was written at the centre of that flag, which was hoisted in Bengal for the first time. In August 1906, a newspaper titled Vande Mataram was also launched to raise public awareness. This was the time when Vande Mataram was not just a word, it was a feeling, a source of motivation, and a poem." He said that the author’s “metaphors” were often misinterpreted, sometimes unintentionally and other times deliberately. Singh added, “This is not to say that our Muslim brothers did not understand these ‘metaphors’.”