Lucknow, November 7: Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath said that today is a very important day. On the completion of 150 years of “Vande Mataram”, which became the mantra of the freedom movement, Prime Minister Modi gave new inspiration to the countrymen to celebrate this day as a memorial day.
Chief Minister Yogi said that Vande Mataram had become the immortal mantra of India’s independence. During that time, every citizen of India (freedom fighters, revolutionaries) had joined the campaign to awaken India’s collective consciousness through village, town, and morning processions with the song Vande Mataram.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath spoke at a program organized at Lok Bhavan to commemorate the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram. The national anthem was sung en masse and a pledge for Swadeshi was taken.
Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath paid homage to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the author of the national anthem. He also visited an exhibition. Those present at Lok Bhavan also watched a live broadcast of the program organized by the Union Ministry of Culture in the presence of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
Referring to the pandemic that struck the country 100 years ago, Yogi said that at that time, India’s population was 300 million, and the death toll was also in the millions. Villages were wiped out. The world has also experienced a pandemic like COVID in independent India. During this pandemic, everyone, whether in government or administration or on low-paid employees, regardless of their lives, had the same sentiment: to control it and find a solution.
Chief Minister Yogi said that only a leadership imbued with that spirit can think sensitively about India, Indianness, and its citizens.
He said that this song, composed in 1875, was not only a song of independence but also successfully promoted the message of freedom within the country. While the song “Vande Mataram” represents a collective expression of Sanskrit and Bengali, it became an immortal song that united all of India with the spirit of the Motherland. It presented the eternal expression of India to the countrymen.
Chief Minister said that when the foreign government made the daring decision to cut off India’s arms through the partition of Bengal in 1905, this song inspired all Indians to unite and resist. In the period that followed, whenever a revolutionary kissed the noose, the mantra “Vande Mataram” continued to utter from their lips.
CM Yogi said that during India’s independence movement, when freedom fighters proposed slogans and flags, Vande Mataram became its voice. Representing the collective expression of the entire nation, Vande Mataram became a mantra that united the entire nation. This song sought to instill in every Indian a sense of belonging, transcending caste, creed, and religion, and to express collectively towards the Motherland with a sense of nation-firstness.
Yogi described “Vande Mataram” as a collective, eternal expression of India’s devotional power. He said that along with the immortal song of Vande Mataram, on the occasion of its 150th anniversary, we are also remembering its creator. The Constituent Assembly recognized this song as India’s national anthem on January 24, 1950.
He said that while it is based on Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s immortal novel Anand Math, which captured the voices of the people suffering from hunger and famine in India and Bengal during that period, the monks later transformed them into a movement. Indeed, this immortal song has succeeded in giving India a new direction and advancing its collective consciousness. Today marks its 150th anniversary. For 150 years, this song has represented India and has succeeded in instilling a sense of new nationalism.
Yogi said that we can all be a part of Vande Mataram. Vande Mataram does not glorify any method of worship, any caste, or any individual, but rather makes us committed to our duties.
Chief Minister also mentioned Babasaheb Bhimrao Ambedkar handing over the draft copy of the Indian Constitution on November 26, 1949.
CM Yogi said that when a teacher inculcates values ββin their students, when a soldier stands firm to protect the nation’s borders despite facing adverse conditions (a soldier standing on the Siachen Glacier may face temperatures of minus 40 degrees, and a soldier guarding the borders in the Rajasthan desert in May-June struggles to protect the borders even in temperatures of 55 degrees, regardless of the heat), when a farmer increases agricultural fertility and produces food, and when every citizen of India rises above self-interest and moves on the path of duty, they are truly singing Vande Mataram.
Chief Secretary SP Goyal, Principal Secretary (Home) Sanjay Prasad, Director General of Police Rajiv Krishna, Agriculture Production Commissioner Deepak Kumar, and others were present during the event.