Colonial History of India

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<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->Sir, — I quite appreciate AK Ghosh’s stout defence made in “The Anthem Debate” (5-6 February) for maintaining the original version of Rabindranath Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana, India’s present National Anthem, without changing the word Sindhu with other words like Kashmir etc.

But what bewildered me is his statement that Subhas Chandra Bose was one of the members of the sub-committee, formed at the instance of the Congress working committee, “to examine the current national songs with the advice of Rabindranath Tagore”. Bose was never a member of such a sub-committee, but was a member in a sub-committee formed in 1937 by the CWC, to decide the fate of the song Bandemataram, which was then widely accepted as the national anthem by freedom fighters, and regularly sung in Congress meetings.

But the Muslims in general and nationalist Muslims in particular objected to its use, as it contained the names of Durga, Kamala etc. Anything concerned with the image is forbidden in Islam. It should be mentioned, at that time, the entire Bandemataram was sung in Congress meetings. Obeying the diktat of the Muslims, the Congress High Command formed the said committee of which Bose was a member. Tagore’s advice was sought. Tagore made a statement in which he opined that the first part of Bandemataram is harmless and could be accepted as the national anthem.
Accepting his advice the CWC decided in favour of using only the first part of the Bandemataram as the national anthem. Mr Ghosh has quoted Tagore’s statement made in relation to Bandemataram. There was a furore against the decision of the CWC, and the protesters even included Sadharan Brahma Samajists like Sir Jagadish Chandra Bose, Ramananda Chatterjee, Krishna Kumar Mitra, who did not believe in image worship.

— Yours, etc., Lakshmi Kanto Boral.
Santragachi, 7 February. <!--QuoteEnd--><!--QuoteEEnd-->