Till 1911, Kolikata re-named as Calcutta by British-occupiers used to be the national capital. When Bengal was divided in 1905, there was a mass upsurge against the division and situation appeared to be revolting out of control of British-occupiers. As a measure of gimmickry, they declared Dilli as the national capital only to diffuse the tension to some extent. Also, they decided to invite the then King of England George V to visit Bharata on a ‘goodwill’ mission and directed Ravindranath Tagore to compose a poetic eulogy (instead of elegy !!) in his honour.
During those decades, Tagore’s family used to be in close proximity to British being in awe of their enchanting veil of mannerism and etiquette. Several Tagore’s family members were employed with East India Company with elder brother Avanindranath Tagore being Director (Calcutta Division) of the Company. His family had invested a fortune in the Company and their stakes in Company’s success were very high. Ravindranath Tagore himself was abundantly sympathetic towards British-occupiers. Owing to his close links and sentiments for British-occupiers, Tagore complied with and composed the lyric ‘Jan Gan Man Adhinayak Jai Hey’. Every word of the lyric was dedicated to George V and British-occupiers of the country in their honour. Hereinasunder is the complete version in English of the lyric –
JAN GAN MAN
You the ruler of our minds, our nation
To you, our humble salutations !
You, the custodian of so many,
You the guardian of India’s destiny,
Through Punjab, Sindh, Gujarat and Maratha,
Dravid, Utkal and Bengal.
Across lofty crests and mellow leas of Vindhyas and Himalayas,
Your name awakens one and all,
It rests upon melodies of Yamuna and Ganga in harmony,
And swells waves of the titanic sea !
Your blessings we seek, your praises replicate you,
As the protector of India’s fate,
Victory forever to you, victory forever to you.
You call us to unite day and night,
Hindus and Buddhists, Jains and Sikhs,
Parsis, Muslims and Christians meek,
From east and west you are thrown above,
We move to weave a garland of love,
You bond hearts of so many,
You the guardian of India’s destiny,
Victory forever to you, victory forever to you.
Through rugged paths that rise and fall,
Your pilgrims have traversed them all !
O Charioteer ! the roar of your wheels,
Echo day and night on the trail we tread,
Clarion call of your sacred conch,
Saves us from riot, despair and dread,
You, the journeymen’s steadfast mate,
You, the shield of India’s fate,
Victory forever to you, victory forever to you.
When the night was dark and utterly bleak
When our land lay sick in a fevered swoon,
O Loving Mother ! You held us close and shielded us from times morose,
Your lowered but ever watchful eyes,
So pure, so faithfully sanctified, granted us your special boon,
You the remover of all agony,
You the guardian of our destiny,
Victory forever to you, victory forever to you.
Darkness of the night is done,
Now watch glory of the rising sun,
Touch the brow of eastern hills,
Song of birds, the auspicious breeze,
Pour their portion to forever seize our hearts as India wakes to meet
sanctity of your blessed feet,
You the Lord of mighty Lords,
Your glory we shall forever applaud,
The remover of all agony, guardian of our destiny,
Victory forever to you, victory forever to you.
The poetic tribute was chorused in honour of the visiting King though he could not comprehend it then owing to the language barrier. However, he carried it to England on his return and went through it’s English version in a contemplative mood. He was abundantly thrilled in joy as he went through the English version and blurted out spontaneously, he had never been so admired, so adored ever before even in his own country England !! He immediately ordered, whosoever had composed that poetic rendition in his honour, must be invited to England. So embarked upon the voyage to western shores Ravindranath Tagore, composer of the poem in honour of King George V. British monarch happened to be Chairman of the Nobel Award Committee too and he duly offered to confer upon the award on Tagore in recognition of his eulogy which Tagore promptly declined as MK Gandhi had earlier severely reprimanded him for the composition in King’s honour. Tagore in turn propositioned the monarch to confer the award upon him for his another creation titled Geetanjali and the word may be allowed to disperse all around, the award was meant for Geetanjali alone and not for the poetic rendition in King’s honour as it would have been acutely embarrassing for him back home in Bharata. King George V conceded the proposition and Ravindranath Tagore was thus conferred upon Nobel Prize in literature for the year 1913.
Tagore’s adoration and admiration for British-occupiers of the country was disrupted only in 1919 when a genocide was brutally enacted by British-occupiers wherein unarmed men, women and children were fired upon without prior warning, without allowing any escape route leading to hundreds of casualties. MK Gandhi visited Ravindranath Tagore in Kolikata thereafter and severely scolded him again for being so chivalrous. Tagore now thoroughly awakened, registered his vociferous protestations and returned the Nobel Prize to British regime. After that, Tagore never wrote even a single word acclaiming British-occupiers. He also wrote to his kin in London, an ICS official Surendranath Bannerjee, confessing and sharing his penitent thoughts pensively and requested him to disclose contents of the letter only after his demise. Accordingly in difference to his wish, SN Bannerjee rendered contents of the letter public and requested the country not to patronise Jan, Gan, Man on any occasion whatsoever on his behalf after Tagore’s demise on August 7, 1941.
Indian National Congress (INC) was riddled with internal dissensions of groupism with one group led by Lokmanya Tilaka while the other by Motilal Nehru. Real bone of contention pertained to government formation after independence was attained. Anti-Hindu / pro-British to the core, Motilal Nehru desired to craft a coalition government with British-occupiers to rule over the country in liberated Bharata !! On the contrary, Lokmanya Tilaka brooked no compromise on principles of independence and sovereignty of the nation. Primarily owing to this reason, Lokmanya quit INC and founded Garam Dal. INC too, underwent factionalism of hardliners and soft-peddlers. Hardliners were of revolutionary disposition, used to sing Vande Mataram while the other group led by Motilal Nehru were always supportive of British-occupiers keen to compromise with them on every issue. As British-occupiers always scorned Vande Mataram, members of Garam Dal made it a point to sing it in their presence. At the instance of British-occupiers, Motilal Nehru faction floated the malicious idea that Muslims must not sing Vande Mataram as it includes idol-worship. By that time Muslim League had come into existence under the leadership of MA Jinnah and they too, began protesting against Vande Mataram instigated by British-occupiers.
When Constituent Assembly visited the contentious issue of national anthem, 318 out of 319 members were in favour of Vande Mataram being adopted. The lone dissenter was Jawaharlal Nehru !! His ludicrous argument was to the effect that the poetic rendition hurt religious sentiments of Muslims !! That too, after Partition-Holocaust wherein Muslims had taken away more than what they should not have been. To resolve the impasse, they solicited MK Gandhi’s advice who suggested Vijayi Vishva Tiranga Pyara, Jhanda Uncha Rahe Hamara. That too, was rejected outright by JL Nehru on the ground that it was impossible to play that on orchestra while Jan, Gan, Man could be very well !! As chorus in favour of Vande Mataram refused to subside, quite deviously Nehru postponed the issue for an opportune moment. And the aspirational moment arrived when MK Gandhi was assassinated. JL Nehru unilaterally announced Jan, Gan, Man to be the national anthem immediately thereafter. It was one more decision adopted by JL Nehru blatantly anti-Bharata and anti-Hindu as any action / decision that hurt British-occupiers / Muslims, deeply hurt Nehru too. Long ago, BBC had conducted a survey among Bharatiya-s all over the world to assess extent of popularity of Vande Mataram. Results were amazing as 99% Bharatiya-s dispersed all over the world opted and voted in favour of Vande Mataram.
Melodious song of patriotism i.e. Vande Mataram that fired spirit of freedom in million bosoms across Bharata, is now mired in unsavory controversy as Muslims refuse to accept it as national song though it was sung in AICC Plenary-1896 in Kolikata under Presidentship of Rahamatulla Ahmed Sayani; Hindu-s and Muslims used to sing it on roads in Kolikata protesting against division of Bengal in 1905 that compelled Viceroy Curzon to reverse it in 1911; it was sung by Sarojini Naidu before commencement of first session of Constituent Assembly in 1948 and lastly, first conference of Education Ministers held in 1952 chaired by Maulana Azad was inaugurated with recitation of Saraswati Vandana and concluded with Vande Mataram. Controversy sprang into being only after the term ‘Secularism’ was forced into Preamble of the Constitution in 1976 under the spell of Emergency by dictatorial Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and harvested it for political mileage uninterruptedly since then.
Now it is upto you to decide, which one you wish to sing in a chorus as a measure of national anthem, with or without orchestra !!!!!
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