Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said that Vande Mataram played a pivotal role in awakening the spirit of nationalism and giving a new direction to India during the freedom movement, and continues to inspire the country even today.
Speaking at a programme organised at Lok Bhavan to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram, the Chief Minister said that on this historic occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged citizens to observe the day as a “Smiriti Diwas” of national pride.
The event began with a collective singing of the national song and a pledge to promote Swadeshi. CM Yogi paid floral tribute to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, the author of the national song, and also visited an exhibition set up on the occasion.
Attendees also watched a live telecast of the programme of the Ministry of Culture in the presence of PM Modi. “Vande Mataram became the immortal mantra of India's independence. Despite the tortures inflicted by the foreign regime, the song echoed across villages and towns, awakening India’s collective consciousness.
Freedom fighters and revolutionaries embraced it as their source of courage,” the Chief Minister said. Recalling the pandemic that struck India a century ago, the CM said the country, then with a population of 30 crore, had lost millions of people.
“Entire villages were wiped out. The world again faced a pandemic in independent India in the form of Covid-19. During this crisis, whether in government or administration, everyone worked with a single resolve to overcome the challenge,” he said.
CM Yogi said Vande Mataram, composed in 1875, was not merely a song but a transformative force that channelled the mantra of freedom into the hearts of Indians. “Though written with a blend of Sanskrit and Bengali, it became an eternal national expression that bound India with devotion to the Motherland,” he said.
Referring to the Partition of Bengal in 1905, he noted that the song united Indians in resistance. “Whenever a revolutionary kissed the noose, the mantra of Vande Mataram echoed from their lips. During the freedom struggle, it became the voice of the nation, rising above caste, creed and religion, and instilling the sentiment of ‘Nation First’.”
The CM said the Constituent Assembly recognised Vande Mataram as the national song in 1950. He added that the song captured the suffering of people battling hunger and famine, which later evolved into a movement for independence.
Quoting PM Modi, Yogi said: “We speak of rights, but do we remember our duties? Duties should secure the future of current and coming generations. Vande Mataram makes us duty-bound to the Motherland. The progress Uttar Pradesh has made over the past eight years is a reflection of this sense of duty”.