Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma, the one who was cleaned by the Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) washing machine, is now one of the aggressive Right-wing persons in the country. Time and again, he comes out with statements that are very humiliating for the Muslim minority, which faces severe marginalisation in Assam.

Recently, in one of the Congress party meetings, a Congressperson sang the song ‘Aamar Sonar Bangla’. Sarma asked his police to file an FIR against him for singing the national anthem of Bangladesh.

Sarma may not be aware of the true history of the song, the circumstances under which it came up and its association with India’s freedom movement. Also, it is only the first 10 lines of the original ‘Aamar Sonar’ that have been adopted as the national anthem of Bangladesh.

In pursuance of their policy of ‘divide and rule’, the British colonial rulers divided Bengal into East Bengal and West Bengal (1905), presumably for administrative purposes. Their real intent was clear to the Indians – they aimed the partition on religious grounds. The people stood tooth and nail to oppose it. It was during this time that Tagore wrote this song to show the pride of Bangla and to oppose the partition of Bengal. It became the central song around which the movement to oppose the partition of Bengal revolved, and in due course, the British had to withdraw their decision to partition the state.

Interestingly, for this movement against partition of Bengal, Gurudev Tagore also started the movement for tying rakhi among the people, to solidify Hindu-Muslim Unity.

After the tragic partition of India, East Pakistan and West Pakistan formed Pakistan. The power centre of Pakistan was in West Pakistan, which dominated economically and culturally, and this resulted in the alienation of East Pakistanis. On the top of that Urdu was declared as the national language of Pakistan. This further triggered the separatism with East Pakistanis wanting to form a separate country.

The movement for separation was led by Sheikh Mujibur Rahman. The theme song of these Bengalis was “Aamar Sonar”. Tagore was a revered figure in East Pakistan. With the formation of Bangladesh, midwifed by the Mukti Bahini, supported by the Indian Army under the astute leadership of Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, a new nation was born. The first 10 lines of Aamar Sonar were adopted as the national anthem of Bangladesh. One of my journalist friends told me that when he went to meet the top Bangladesh leader, he was amazed to see that the portrait of Tagore had a prominent place in the waiting parlour.

It is a matter of pride that the national anthem of the two neighbouring countries has been written by the same poet. Interestingly, the tune of “Aamar Sonar” is rooted in Rabindra Sangeet, and was put to a lovely tune by music director Samar Das.

Aamar Sonar has two major significant aspects, one that it was a major theme song against British policy of ‘divide and rule’, and second its first 10 lines were adopted as the National Anthem of Bangladesh. Tagore has made India proud by this contribution and there is nothing anti-national about singing this song with so much historic significance.

The other major contribution of Tagore has been Jan Gan Man, which was chosen as the national anthem of India. India also has a national song, in the form of Vande Mataram. Some from the Right-wing wanted only Vande Mataram in full to be the national anthem. The problem with this song is that it has whole Hindu imagery and after the first two stanzas, it regards the nation in the form of Hindu Goddess Durga. This would have been problematic in a ‘secular to be country’ which the national movement was envisaging. Also, its roots are in the novel Anand Math by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee. In the original version of the novel, the rebellion is against a Muslim ruler and the success of the rebellion comes in the form of the establishment of British rule.

The song committee of the national movement led by Congress had the choice between ‘Saare Jahan Se Achcha Hindostan Hamara’ by Sir Mohammad Iqbal, Vande Mataram and Jan Gan Man. Sare Jahan Se Achccha was ruled out as its writer Iqbal himself left for Pakistan. Vande Mataram was modified to make it the national song and Jan Gan Man was selected as it reflected the secular diversity of the country in a crisp manner.

There were also allegations that Jan Gan Man was written in praise of George V. This was due to poor reporting in the media. On the same day, two songs were sung while welcoming George V, to thank him for reversing the decision to partition Bengal. One was by Ramanuj Chowdhary praising George V for reversing the decision of partition of Bengal and the other was Jan Gan Man. The Anglo-Indian media incorrectly reported that Jan Gan Man was sung in praise of George V.

There is an allegation that the word adhinayak in this stands for George V. Tagore clarified that adhinayak stands for “That great charioteer of man’s destiny in age after age could not by any means be George V or George VI or any George.”

This was correctly reported by the vernacular media, and this was the interpretation of the scholars who understand Tagore in a proper way. This national anthem is the true mirror of India. The Rght-wing forces insist on singing Vande Mataram in full and give a preference to the national song. I recall that in the aftermath of Mumbai violence of 1992-93, when peace processions were taken out, those hooting the processions were shouting “Is Desh Mein Rahna Hai to Vande Mataram Kahna Hoga” (If you want to live in this country you will have to sing Vande Mataram)

Mercifully, the song committee of India struck an excellent balance between Jan Gan Man and Vande Mataram. The likes of Sarma are still hunting for pretexts to intimidate the people on this or that pretext. They are totally ignorant of the glorious movements which threw up Aamar Sonar in particular!


The author is the president of the Centre for the Study of Society and Secularism. The views are personal.