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Lucknow, Nov 7 (IANS) Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath on Friday said Vande Mataram played an important role in awakening the spirit of nationalism during the independence movement and giving a new direction to India and is inspiring the country even today.
Speaking at an event organized at Lok Bhawan to mark 150 years of Vande Mataram, the Chief Minister said that on this historic occasion, Prime Minister Narendra Modi has urged citizens to observe the day as a “memorial day” of national pride.
The program started with collective singing of the national anthem and pledge to promote Swadeshi.
CM Yogi paid floral tributes to the composer of the national song, Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and also visited the exhibition organized on this occasion.
In the presence of PM Modi, the people present also watched the live telecast of the program of the Ministry of Culture.
The Chief Minister said, “Vande Mataram became the immortal mantra of India’s independence. Despite the tortures inflicted by foreign rule, this song continued to resonate in villages and towns, awakening the collective consciousness of India. Freedom fighters and revolutionaries adopted it as a source of their courage.”
Recalling the pandemic that hit India a century ago, the CM said that the country with a population of 30 crore had lost lakhs of people.
He said, “Entire villages were wiped out. In independent India the world again faced a pandemic in the form of COVID-19. During this crisis, be it the government or the administration, everyone worked with the same determination – to overcome the challenge.”
CM Yogi said that Vande Mataram, composed in 1875, was not just a song but a transformative force that brought the mantra of freedom into the hearts of Indians.
He said, “Although written in a mixture of Sanskrit and Bengali, it became a timeless national expression that bound India to its devotion to the motherland.”
Referring to the partition of Bengal in 1905, he said the song united Indians in resistance.
“Whenever a revolutionary kissed the noose, the mantra of Vande Mataram echoed from his lips. During the freedom struggle, it became the voice of the nation rising above caste, creed and religion and instilled the spirit of ‘Nation First’.”
The CM said that the Constituent Assembly had recognized Vande Mataram as the national song in 1950. He said the song depicted the suffering of people suffering from hunger and famine, which later evolved into a movement for independence.
Quoting PM Modi, Yogi said, “We talk about rights, but do we remember our duties? Duties must secure the future of the present and future generations. Vande Mataram makes us dutiful towards the motherland. The progress Uttar Pradesh has made in the last eight years is a reflection of the sense of duty.”
–IANS
SKP/