Yesterday’s centenary ‘celebration’ of Bankim Chandra’s nationalist song, Vande Mataram, has passed off peacefully. It’s curious that a 60-year independent India would still need a 100-year old song to prove credentials of patriotism. Such was the brouhaha over singing the song that the entire episode can be best termed as a blot on our national fabric.
There are many accounts of the run-up to the event that are available on the net. Of particular interest is Bill Poser’s Sep 6 narration. He is affable and articulate in probing the meaning of the song, and what goes to make it a national issue.
I’ll attempt a political twist to this whole incident, because I feel there is bit of shrewd thinking behind it. BJP, the ultra-nationalist party, is a proponent of everything anti-secular. Notwithstanding India’s success since independence – much of which can be credited to the Congress party – it believes our country is on the threshold of disaster only and only because of what it says minority appeasement. Though there’s some truth in their contention, it’s no more and no less a concern than the other ill, namely casteism.
Now in power, Congress is gradually usurping the ground on which BJP and many other regional casteist parties stand. That’s good, because as we’ve seen during turbulent 50s through 70s, a strong left-of-center Congress party is the best bet for a multi-cultural country like India.
I can’t help but mention an interesting development early this week during CMs’ conference in the capital. Budhhadeb Bhattacharjee, the Bengal CM, has been very vocal about curbing the menace of terror-import from ‘our neighboring country’. This has been BJP’s very strong political plank, but with a twist. While BJP looks at the religion of the terror-causer, Budhhadeb has clearly meant that it is our national sovereignty that is at stake. A very clever maneuver that, and welcome too, for it snatches away a good amount of ground of BJP’s partisan politics.
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