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The founders of the Indian nation added into the hymn Raghupati Raghav Raja ram and edited Vande Mataram to expand the community; the BJP seeks to edit the first and reverse the editing in the second
Shared rituals are part of nation-building. Imaginative leaders frame and propagate slogans, songs, and joint community activities with the aim of expanding the participation of people in politics. When shared rituals become more widely shared across broader segments of society, the nation, the community becomes stronger and bigger. Whether or not they are formally adopted as a national song or slogan, the principle holds.
By writing into one song, and editing out from another, the founders of the modern Indian nation expanded the scope of the nation in the early 20th century – the hymn Raghupati Raghava Raja ram and the song Vande Mataram, respectively.
The BJP too is editing and expanding both the songs, but in the inverse order. It wants to remove the line that M.K. Gandhi had added to his favourite hymn, Raghupati Raghava…and include the stanzas of Vande Mataram that were kept out by the founders. This reversal of pattern is instructive of how the BJP’s imagination and its instruments of nation building are fundamentally different from the founders’.
M.K. Gandhi’s political and social life stands out for his efforts to accommodate religious differences and communicate the possibility of communal harmony. His prayer meetings, for instance, included readings and recitations from the Quran and the Bible, as well as from Hindu religious traditions. His approach, therefore, was not to erase religious difference, but to place different traditions within a shared space.
The history of Raghupati Raghava Raja ram, or the Ramdhun, is a revealing example. The hymn existed before Gandhi and was traditionally associated with devotion to Ram. The exact source of Ramdhun is difficult to ascertain, but is popularly attributed to the poet Tulsidas, revered as a saint.
He repurposed Raghupati Raghava Raja ram to add “Easwar Allah tere nam” (Eashwar! Allah! These are your names), replacing “Patita pavana Sita Ram” (Lord Rama and Sita, who purify and uplift the fallen, sinners) for the second verse. Gandhi repurposed it in 1947, post the Noakhali riots in Bengal. He attributed the change to his grand-niece Manu, who was with him during the Noakhali visit and sang, “Eashwar Allah tere nam, sabko sanmati de Bhagawan” (Eashwar! Allah! These are your names, may God bestow wisdom upon everyone).
A devotional song centred on Ram was given a vocabulary that both Muslims and Hindus could recognise as their own. There is another reference to Gandhi’s attempts to make Ramdhun better reflect his desire for Hindu-Muslim unity. Gandhi’s collected work mentions that after he returned from Noakhali, he replaced the refrain “Bhaj man pyare Sitaram” (O my dear mind, chant and worship the names of Sita and Rama) with “Bhaj man pyare Rama Rahim, bhaj man pyare Krishna Karim” (O my beloved mind, chant the name of Rama and Rahim; O my beloved mind, chant the name of Krishna and Karim). Thus, in Gandhi’s case, we witness that he expanded on the meaning of Ramdhun for a wider appeal in a context in which he was witness to Hindu-Muslim communal riots. Thus, the rendition “Ishwar Allah tero naam, sabko sanmati de Bhagwan,” calls for sanity across religious differences.
The significance of this intervention lies not merely in the insertion of a new line into an old hymn. Gandhi was attempting to alter the constituency that the song could address. A song that had begun as a Hindu devotional hymn could, through a small textual intervention, become a ritual of inter-religious harmony. In the context of the communal violence Gandhi witnessed in Noakhali and elsewhere, the alteration was therefore also a political act. An attempt to make a prayer ritual serve the larger purpose of social reconciliation. However, the ecumenical renditions of Ramdhun had detractors among both Muslims and Hindus. Muslims said it equated Ram with Allah, while Hindus said it compromised their religious hymn sung in praise of Lord Ram.
A similar tension can be seen in the history of Vande Mataram. Unlike the Ramdhun, which Gandhi altered by adding language, the Congress’s eventual accommodation of Vande Mataram involved restricting the portion of the poem used at national gatherings. The issue arose because Vande Mataram had acquired enormous significance during the freedom struggle.
At the same time, the complete poem, set in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s novel Anandamath, contained religious imagery that some Muslims regarded as incompatible with their participation in a common national ritual. The question before the Congress was therefore not simply whether the song was patriotic. It was whether a song that had become a powerful symbol of anti-colonial nationalism could also function as a national song for a religiously diverse country. Author-historian Geeti Sen writes that in 1937, Nehru wrote to Subhas Chandra Bose, “Certainly as suggested by you I shall discuss the Bande Mataram song with Dr Tagore.”
The poet laureate, in response, wrote to Nehru: “To me the spirit of tenderness and devotion expressed in [the hymn’s] first portion, the emphasis it gave to beautiful and beneficent aspects of our motherland made a special appeal, so much so that I found no difficulty in dissociating it from the rest of the poem and from those portions of the book of which it is a part…. I freely concede that the whole of Bankim’s ‘Vande Mataram’ poem, read together with its context, is liable to be interpreted in ways that might wound Moslem susceptibilities, but a national song, though derived from it, which has spontaneously come to consist only of the first two stanzas of the original poem, need not remind us every time of the whole of it, much less of the story with which it was accidentally associated. It has acquired a separate individuality and an inspiring significance of its own in which I see nothing to offend any sect or community.”
Tagore’s intervention offered an important distinction between the first portion and the rest of the hymn. He said the first portion emphasises the beautiful and beneficent aspects of the motherland, which appealed to him. He conceded that the whole of the hymn can damage Muslim susceptibilities. He reasoned that the first two stanzas derived from the full hymn have acquired an individuality and significance of their own, without being offensive to anyone.
The Congress Working Committee subsequently adopted this logic. Its recommendation stated: Working Committee feel that past associations, with their long record of suffering for the cause, as well as popular usage, have made the first two stanzas of this song a living and inseparable part of our national movement and as such they must command our affection and respect. There is nothing in these stanzas to which anyone can take exception. The other stanzas of the song are little known and hardly ever sung …“[T]he Committee wish to point out that the modern evolution of the use of the song as part of national life is of infinitely greater importance than its setting in a historical novel before the national movement had taken shape. Taking all things into consideration therefore the Committee recommend that wherever the Bande Mataram is sung at national gatherings only the first two stanzas should be sung, with perfect freedom to the organisers to sing any other song of an unobjectionable character, in addition to, or in the place of, the Bande Mataram song.”
The committee recommended that the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram be sung. It recognised the communal context of the novel in which it finds place. Still, it reasoned that the first two stanzas of the song are a living and inseparable part of the Indian national movement and thus must command affection and respect. It recommended giving organisers of national events the freedom to sing any other song of unobjectionable character, in addition to or in place of the Vande Mataram song.
On 24 January 1950, when the Constituent Assembly settled the question of the National Anthem, President of the Assembly Rajendra Prasad stated that Jana Gana Mana would be the National Anthem and that Vande Mataram, because of its historic role in the freedom struggle, would be “honoured equally” and have equal status with it. The Constitution itself does not expressly create a category called “national song,” but the Constituent Assembly’s statement established Vande Mataram as a national symbol alongside the anthem.
Federalism tract
Hey Ram!
Telangana Chief Minister Revanth Reddy’s statement that Sri Ram is the god of the rich and that Shiva is the god of the poor, has had the BJP accuse him of attempting to divide Hindu society along regional, linguistic, caste, and gender lines. Mr. Reddy had added, at a private event in Delhi last week, that “We are Dravidians. Here (North India), people are Aryans. We are devotees of Shiva, while people here are devotees of Lord Ram.”
Mind the States
Protest continues over the Mines and Minerals (Development and Regulation) Amendment (MMDR) Act, 2026, with critics saying it could affect mineral-rich States such as Odisha and Jharkhand. The Act seeks to establish a uniform, Centre-directed framework for mineral taxation and restricts State governments from imposing tax, cess, or other levy on mineral rights or mineral-bearing lands. BJD president and former Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik has urged political parties to oppose its implementation. At the same time, BJD leaders plan to intensify protests at the district level and halt mineral transportation from Odisha.
J and K, the state of anticipation
The Jammu and Kashmir Assembly on September 28 passed a resolution seeking the restoration of “full Statehood”. BJP legislators protested, opposing any discussion on autonomy or Article 370 in the Assembly. Except for the BJP, all political parties supported the resolution. Here is The Hindu editorial that is demanding immediate restoration of statehood for J and K.
Hills of conflict
The United Naga Council (UNC) has temporarily lifted its economic blockade of Manipur highways following a tripartite meeting with the Centre and State governments on September 26. Its demands include ending the Suspension of Operations (SoO) agreement with around 25 Kuki-Zomi armed groups, removing Deputy CM Nemcha Kipgen, and justice for six Naga residents abducted and killed in May. The ongoing conflict between Kuki-Zo and Naga groups in the hill districts of Manipur adds to the conflict that emerged in 2023 between Kuki-Zo and Naga communities. The conflict has revived a longstanding argument over control of the hills and the customary laws that govern them.
Ceiling and floor in Andhra Pradesh
The Andhra Pradesh High Court struck down State government notifications providing 34% reservation for Backward Classes (BCs) in Panchayat Raj Institutions and 33.33% in Urban Local Bodies, holding that they breached the 50% reservation ceiling set by the Supreme Court.
Column of confusion
Officials told The Hindu that the government is yet to decide how it will sort and tabulate caste data collected through the open-column method in the 2027 Census. Under the system, people outside the SC and ST categories can enter their caste names. Experts, Opposition parties, and OBC groups have criticised the method, saying it could repeat the 2011 Socio-Economic Caste Census, which recorded over 46 lakh distinct caste names and was subsequently shelved by successive governments.
Hide and seek
The High-Level Committee on Demographic Changes (HLCDC) has sought 15 years of religion-wise data on births, education, property transactions, and official registrations, along with details of religious structures, conversions among ST communities, and detention centres. State officials said most of the 35 queries were difficult to answer, as such religion-wise data is largely unavailable, and the Constitution’s secular framework limits such data collection.