Vande Mataram not equal to national anthem: Owaisi

AIMIM president Asaduddin Owaisi on Thursday objected to the Union Cabinet’s decision to grant ‘Vande Mataram’ the same statutory protection as the national anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’, saying the song cannot be treated on par with the anthem, as it is an ode to a goddess.

The nation does not run in the name of a god or goddess and it does not belong to one god or goddess, he said.

In a post on X, he said, “Jana Gana Mana celebrates India and its people, not a particular religion. Religion—nation. The man who wrote Vande Mataram was sympathetic to the British Raj and despised Muslims. Netaji Bose, Gandhi, Nehru, and Tagore all rejected it.”

Referring to the Constitution of India, he said the Preamble begins with “We, the People” — not “Bharat Maa”. It promises “liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith 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 a goddess and they specifically invoked Vande Mataram. Others wanted it to begin “In the name of God” and to replace “its citizens” with “her citizens”. However, all these amendments were defeated, Owaisi said.

“India, that is Bharat, is its people. The 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.

Meanwhile, Telangana BJP president N Ramchander Rao took exception to Owaisi’s objections to the government’s decision and said the AIMIM leadership views any form of cultural integration as a threat to religious exclusivism.

It is not just limited to Owaisi, even Jinnah followed the same trajectory, he said.

Jinnah had not objected to Vande Mataram during the early phase of his political career as a Congress member 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 civilisational symbol is portrayed as a threat,” Rao said in a post on X.

Suggesting a pattern, the BJP leader said the AIMIM opposes not just Vande Mataram, but also the Uniform Civil Code, the abolition of Triple Talaq and every attempt at creating a common framework.

“All of this stems from a leadership mindset that sees cultural integration and national cohesion as dangers to its political relevance and religious exclusivism,” he said.

The Union Cabinet has approved a proposal to amend the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 to make any obstruction to the singing of the national song Vande Mataram a punishable offence.

This gives Vande Mataram the same statutory protection as the national anthem Jana Gana Mana.