Congress’s latest CWC resolution to restrict Vande Mataram to its first two stanzas is not merely a dispute about a song. It raises a larger question: can a political compromise adopted by the Congress in the intensely communal circumstances of 1937 now be placed above the constitutional and statutory framework of the Republic of India?
And Congress should perhaps revisit what one of its own tallest leaders, C. Congress leaders were themselves divided over how to respond. There were also genuine concerns among some Congress leaders about the religious imagery in the later verses, and Tagore and Gandhi had reservations about their use in mixed political gatherings. But that was a political accommodation in a particular historical circumstance. It was not a constitutional amendment. It was not an Act of Parliament. And it certainly was not a permanent veto over how independent India would honour its National Song. The broader history is equally instructive. The Muslim League’s objections did not end with Vande Mataram. The song became part of a larger catalogue of allegations against Congress governments – over the Congress flag, language, education and other matters. Congress disputed these charges, and Rajendra Prasad even challenged Jinnah to have them independently examined by a judicial committee headed by Sir Maurice Gwyer, Chief Justice of the Federal Court.
Rajagopalachari, wrote in 1939, before repeating the very mistake he had warned against. In 1937, Muhammad Ali Jinnah and the Muslim League made Vande Mataram a political issue. Congress consequently decided in 1937 that only the first two stanzas would be sung at its national gatherings. Indeed, Rajaji’s 1939 warning demonstrates that even within Congress there was a serious understanding of the danger of allowing such concessions to become precedents.
Jawaharlal Nehru, writing to Subhas Chandra Bose that October, acknowledged that the Anandamath background of the song “may provoke Muslims”.
