New DelhiDecember 10, 2025 05:03 AM IST
First published on: Dec 9, 2025 at 04:10 PM IST
In a sharp ideological statement linking the Vande Mataram with “cultural nationalism”—a key concept in the worldview of the BJP and the RSS—Union Home Minister Amit Shah said in the Rajya Sabha on Tuesday that in its background lay both Islamic invasions and the later British attempts to impose a new culture on India.
“Vande Mataram ki rachna ki pristhabhomi hum sab ne zaroor yaad karni chahiye. Uski prishthabhumi mein sadiyon tak Islamic aakraman ko jhelkar is desh ki sanskriti and is desh ka itihas jhanjhorne ka, chhinn bhhinn karne ka kam hua tha. Uske baad angrezon ne apne shaasan ke kaal mein Bharat ke ghulami ke kaal mein ek nayi sabhyata, ek nayi sanskriti hum pe thopne ka prayaas kiya tha aur us waqt Vande Mataram ki rachna Bankim babu ne ki, aur is rachna ke andar bahut baareeki se hamari mool sabhyata thi. Hamara sanskritik rashtrawad tha (We must remember the background of Vande Mataram. The background was centuries of Islamic invasions and the devastation of the culture and history of our country. After that, the British, during their rule, tried to impose a new civilisation and culture on us, and at this time Bankim Babu composed Vande Mataram; it contained in a very detailed way our core cultural ethos. It contained our cultural nationalism),” Shah told the Upper House.
This came weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the legacy of British lawmaker Thomas Babington Macaulay—whose objective, the PM said, was to create Indians who “are Indians by appearance but British at heart”—which he said India should transcend now.
Bankim imagined the nation as a mother, and without any channels of communication, and despite the colonial state banning it, it touched the hearts and souls of the country, Shah said. Neither the British nor those who accepted their civilisation could prevent its spread, he asserted.
“When Vande Mataram turned 50, the country was not independent. By the time turned 50, Pandit [Jawaharlal] Nehru divided it into two. That appeasement led to the Partition of the country. I believe Partition would not have happened if Vande Mataram had not been divided into two,” Shah said.
He added that when it turned 100, those who recited Vande Mataram were in jail during the Emergency. And when it was in its 150th year, he said, both members of the Gandhi family of the same Congress in whose sessions it used to be sung were absent from Parliament. He was obliquely referring to Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi. He also referred to Priyanka Gandhi, saying that a prominent female leader of the Congress said in the Lok Sabha that there was no need to discuss the Vande Mataram today.
Relevant in 2047 too
Seeking to counter the Opposition’s question as to why a discussion on Vande Mataram was needed, Shah said that it was necessary to remember Vande Mataram not just now but also in 2047, when India would become a “Mahaan Bharat (great India)”.
He countered Priyanka’s charge in the Lok Sabha that the discussion was aimed at the Bengal elections, asserting that while its writer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya was from Bengal, the song had spread across India and the world, inspiring nationalists.
Shah said that India was a unique nation – it was the only nation whose boundaries were determined by culture and not laws. “The concept of cultural nationalism was first spread in the days of slavery by Bankim Babu,” Shah said, while underlining that the belief of the nation was “chir puratan (very old)”. He added that Lord Ram, Lord Shiva and Chanakya also referred to the motherland.
The nation, he said, was not a mere piece of land, and “we look at it like the mother”. He specifically made mention of the lines of the song, likening the motherland to goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.
Shah underlined that nationalist Sri Aurobindo saw Vande Mataram not just as a song but as a symbol of India’s spiritual strength. He added that those freedom fighters who were executed had Vande Mataram on their lips before their execution. He asserted that the Constituent Assembly decided to give Vande Mataram a status equal to the national anthem.
Shah said that the Congress was claiming that the government was trying to distract from issues – if so, they should not disrupt Parliament.
Shah said that it was in 1992 that L K Advani had said that Vande Mataram should be sung in the Lok Sabha, and it began after that. He accused many Opposition members of walking out when Vande Mataram was recited, adding that none in the BJP ever did so.
Shah recalled that the Modi government had decided to celebrate Vande Mataram for one year from October 1, 2025–offering details of the same. He said he saw Vande Mataram as relevant for India’s future, and added that he was confident India would become the top country in the world in 2047 in every aspect.
