António Costa, President of the European Council, and Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission, are chief guests at this year’s parade.
Ibn Khaldun Bharati’s core claim—that Muslim resistance to ‘Vande Mataram’ reflects an unwillingness to merge into an “organic whole” with Hindus—ignores both historical context and religious concerns.
From coastal Andhra Pradesh to Jallianwala Bagh in Punjab, from bonfires in UP to midnight pledges in Chennai and Lahore, Vande Mataram was a war cry to galvanise people toward azaadi.
Speaking in Rajya Sabha, the Congress leader calls the Vande Mataram debate part of a project to defame Nehru. Vande Mataram is sung at every Congress session, he says.
In Rajya Sabha, home minister rejects charge that govt came up with idea of holding debate on Vande Mataram with WB polls in mind. ‘Vande Mataram is not limited to Bengal, country.’
In her speech in Lok Sabha, Priyanka Gandhi accused PM Modi of cherry-picking facts to suit his narrative. ‘It is an open assault on constituent assembly and Constitution.'
The Economic Survey 2025-26 is not a celebration of success, but a measured warning that the traditional paradigms of global economic growth are no longer applicable.
The IT services sector contributed more than half of India’s Gross Value Added, serving as a major driver of exports and employment, the Economic Survey 2025-26 has found.
Shield AI will provide V-BAT vertical takeoff & landing drones along with licences for software, which will be integrated into aircraft and made available to select Indian partners.
No nation other than China can negotiate one-on-one with Trump on an equal footing. That’s why the middle powers who so far formed the core of multilateral bodies now feel orphaned.
Even going by the context described by the author, by 1937 there were Muslims who went by the Jinnah kind of interpretation and others who didn’t. In order to meet any residual misgivings of this second category of Muslims, we can note that no less than Tagore, Bose, Nehru and others suggested a truncated version of the original as our national song. “Maa Tujhe Salaaam ” and ” Vande Mataram ” are absolutely synonymous and therefore it is illogical to object to this truncated version on imaginary religious grounds. It would be good if our minorities ( not just Muslims) placed their faith in the wisdom of titans of modern India such as Nehru, Tagore, Bose and Gandhi.
Ethiopia, a country of Muslims, have a national anthem that describes the country as mother land. Vande Mataram does the same. But the real objection that these Indian extremists have is to the fact that since its earliest inscription Indian civilization has considered the mother as divine. Mother is both mundane and divine. Every ordinary mother is also an aspect of the divine mother. This expansive understanding of the divine is what Islamist apologetics like this writer find difficult to digest. Shameful — and clear reason why Islam will come to be equated with terrorism everywhere in the world. With the Australia shooting Muslims in India who are influenced by the narrow mindset that this author as well as terror groups like IS promotes will misguide youth.
Nation is not a deity or God. Nation deserves respect but that respect is much lower than what is owed to God. Equating the two only leads to disaster and collapse of humanity in long term. Nations change when people migrate, geographies change with natural events like tsunamis, floods, earthquakes etc. God never changes.
Hasnain Naqvi’s argument that “Vande Mataram” is against Muslim faith is incorrect. “Vande Mataram” says to respect your motherland, not consider the motherland as God. The real reason why the Indian Muslims consider it as anti-Muslim is because Indian Muslims are taught by the Muslim party Muslim League to oppose anything that is proposed by Congress which they considered a Hindu party. That is unfortunate.
Let me remind the author of a historical context – an entire nation was carved out based on religious supremacy. This sitting on two stools and fancy wordplay is at best a subtle attempt at avoiding the hard conversations within the community! The author seems to suggest that faith would take precedence over the nation in case coding between the two arises. During NRC protest violent threats of decapitation were raised and people related it to faith ! How absurd to bring faith based context in such matters !
Even going by the context described by the author, by 1937 there were Muslims who went by the Jinnah kind of interpretation and others who didn’t. In order to meet any residual misgivings of this second category of Muslims, we can note that no less than Tagore, Bose, Nehru and others suggested a truncated version of the original as our national song. “Maa Tujhe Salaaam ” and ” Vande Mataram ” are absolutely synonymous and therefore it is illogical to object to this truncated version on imaginary religious grounds. It would be good if our minorities ( not just Muslims) placed their faith in the wisdom of titans of modern India such as Nehru, Tagore, Bose and Gandhi.
Ethiopia, a country of Muslims, have a national anthem that describes the country as mother land. Vande Mataram does the same. But the real objection that these Indian extremists have is to the fact that since its earliest inscription Indian civilization has considered the mother as divine. Mother is both mundane and divine. Every ordinary mother is also an aspect of the divine mother. This expansive understanding of the divine is what Islamist apologetics like this writer find difficult to digest. Shameful — and clear reason why Islam will come to be equated with terrorism everywhere in the world. With the Australia shooting Muslims in India who are influenced by the narrow mindset that this author as well as terror groups like IS promotes will misguide youth.
Nation is not a deity or God. Nation deserves respect but that respect is much lower than what is owed to God. Equating the two only leads to disaster and collapse of humanity in long term. Nations change when people migrate, geographies change with natural events like tsunamis, floods, earthquakes etc. God never changes.
Hasnain Naqvi’s argument that “Vande Mataram” is against Muslim faith is incorrect. “Vande Mataram” says to respect your motherland, not consider the motherland as God. The real reason why the Indian Muslims consider it as anti-Muslim is because Indian Muslims are taught by the Muslim party Muslim League to oppose anything that is proposed by Congress which they considered a Hindu party. That is unfortunate.
Let me remind the author of a historical context – an entire nation was carved out based on religious supremacy. This sitting on two stools and fancy wordplay is at best a subtle attempt at avoiding the hard conversations within the community! The author seems to suggest that faith would take precedence over the nation in case coding between the two arises. During NRC protest violent threats of decapitation were raised and people related it to faith ! How absurd to bring faith based context in such matters !