I remembered this as I watched We The People programme on NDTV last Sunday on the unfortunate controversy over Vande Mataram, which has surfaced yet again. Two Muslim participants explained their objection to the song by saying what a section of the Muslim community has been saying since pre-Partition years. ‘‘Islam does not permit idolatry.’’ ‘‘Vande Mataram portrays Mother India as a Hindu goddess.’’ ‘‘Islam forbids us to worship anyone except Allah.’’ I couldn’t help telling myself: ‘‘Why are they deliberately obfuscating the matter?’’ What objection can any Indian, irrespective of their religious affiliation, have to the first two verses of the song, which are nothing but a reverential eulogy of Madar-e-Watan, a proudly used term in Urdu? Who says vandana means worship and where does the national song require Muslims to worship Mother India or any Hindu goddess? Did Rehman, a devout Muslim, commit shirk (an unforgivable sin in Islam since it means ‘setting up partners in worship with Allah’) by singing Vande Mataram? If there is so much noise about non-existent Hindu symbolism in India’s national song, what about Pakistan’s national anthem that has obvious Muslim symbolism (‘Crescent and Star’, ‘Citadel of Faith’)? Can the Hindus, who have been reduced to a microscopic minority, and Christians object to its singing in Pakistan?

Here is Subramania Bharati’s Tamil adaptation of Vande Mataram, which is commonly sung in Tamil Nadu without anyone objecting to it. Is there any Hindu idolatry in the following inspirational lines?

Vande Mataram enbom

Engal manila thayai Vanangudum enbom

Jaathi mathangalai parom

Uyar Janmamiththesathil eithinarayin...

(We chant Vande Mataram, and/ Pay obeisance to Mother Land/ We see no caste or communal barriers/ All born in this sacred land are high-born.)

The minority Muslim opinion that deems Vande Mataram un-Islamic is raising pre-Partition objections because it is still guided by the pre-Partition separatist mindset. The Muslim concerns were accommodated by the Indian National Congress, which was the leading force in India’s freedom movement, way back in 1937 by abridging the song only to its first two stanzas, thus leaving out subsequent ones that liken Mother India to Durga. And even after the Muslim League, which had objected to Vande Mataram, succeeded in its communal agenda of carving out Pakistan as a separate homeland for Muslims, our Constituent Assembly reaffirmed its faith in India’s secular character and accorded the national song status only to the abridged version of Bankim Chandra’s immortal composition.

To those sectarian Muslims, and their supporters in the pseudo-secular camp, who even today question why Vande Mataram was gien any kind of national status at all in independent India, it is enough to let Pandit Nehru answer them. Participating in the Constituent Assembly debate, he said: ‘‘Vande Mataram is obviously and indisputably the premier national song of India, with a great historical tradition, and intimately connected with our struggle for freedom. That position it is bound to retain and no other song can displace it. It represents the position and poignancy of that struggle...’’

Thus, the debate over Vande Mataram was clinched once and for all—first in 1937 and again in 1950. Sadly, exclusivist Muslims remain unreconciled to it, which is unsurprising. What is surprising, however, is the unwillingness of today’s Congress leaders to defend the national song. Its supreme leader is characteristically silent. She probably thinks that pandering to Muslim fanaticism makes better electoral sense than defending a hoary national legacy.

The BJP is right in doing what the Congress ought to have done. But it must guard against the temptation of espousing the cause of Vande Mataram for electoral benefits. For what is sacred in our national movement must not be sullied by narrow political considerations. It should eschew shrillness and coercion in its campaign. For example, its ally Shiv Sena has put up hoardings in Mumbai that proclaim: ‘‘Hindustan mein rehna hai to Vande Mataram kehna hoga (If you want to live in India, you must sing Vande Mataram).’’ This kind of offensive and provocative language is as unhelpful to national integration as the decree of those Muslim leaders who tell their fellow-religionists not to sing Vande Mataram. A message rooted in love, reason and inclusive nationalism is enough to convince most of our Muslim brethren that they cannot—and should not—exclude themselves from according the national song the recognition and honour that it rightfully deserves. Equally, it’s the duty of Muslim intellectuals to widely affirm that there is no contradiction between devotion to Islam and respecting national sentiments.