150 Years of ‘Vande Mataram’: PM Modi Launches Nationwide Celebration

Prime Minister Narendra Modi inaugurated a program in New Delhi on November 7, 2025, to commemorate the 150th anniversary of the national song ‘Vande Mataram’. 

• The Ministry of Culture organised the inaugural ceremony of the program, celebrating the 150th anniversary of the national song. This event marks the formal beginning of a year-long nationwide commemoration from November 7, 2025, to November 7, 2026.
• The year-long commemoration will celebrate the 150 years of this timeless composition that inspired India’s freedom movement and continues to evoke national pride and unity.

Key facts related to the national song ‘Vande Mataram’

• Our national song “Vande Mataram,” composed by Bankimchandra Chatterjee, was written on the auspicious occasion of Akshaya Navami, which fell on November 7, 1875.
• Vande Mataram was first serialized in the literary magazine Bangadarshan as part of his novel Anandamath, and later published as a separate book in 1882.
• Rabindranath Tagore first sang this song with music at the 1896 Congress session. The first two stanzas were in Sanskrit, while the remaining were in Bengali.
• On January 24, 1950, the President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, announced that “Vande Mataram,” which played a historic role in the freedom struggle, would be accorded the same status as the national anthem “Jana Gana Mana.”
• The song was composed in opposition to the British government’s mandate to sing “God Save the Queen” at official ceremonies and as a voice against British rule.
• The English translation of ‘Vande Mataram’ was first done by Aurobindo Ghosh. During the 1905 Bengal Partition movement, it was given the status of the national song, and ‘Vande Mataram’ became a popular national slogan.