Why may BJP's Vande Mataram pitch backfire ahead of West Bengal Election 2025?

Participating in the high-octane debate on 'Vande Mataram,' Prime Minister Narendra Modi referred to the composer of the national song as 'Bankim da' twice before TMC veteran Sugata Roy objected to it and advised him to say 'Bankim Babu.' The leader of the house immediately corrected himself. He taunted the senior MP and asked him if he could call him "dada." In yet another incident, Union Culture Minister Gajendra Singh Shekhawat called the poet Bankim 'Das' Chattopadhyay. In an attempt to 'correct' himself, he made another blooper and said Bankim 'Das' Chatterjee. Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay (or Chatterjee) is a cultural icon of Bengal, and he cannot be called 'da' casually. 

PM Modi's Parliament speech

These two incidents, taking place in the lower house of the parliament to celebrate the 150th year of the national song and 'Ananda Math,' the novel from which it was taken, prove how unprepared the BJP is to make it an issue before the West Bengal Election 2025. The intention of the saffron party became clear when speaker after speaker, from PM Modi to first-time MPs, attacked Jawaharlal Nehru and accused him of initiating the "politics of appeasement" by surrendering to the Muslim League and its leader, Muhammad Ali Jinnah. They slammed the first prime minister of the country for dropping four stanzas of the poem and not making it the national anthem. Instead of the national song and its composer, the debate surrounded Nehru and Congress; its MPs slammed the party but chose not to be so caustic towards the British rulers. 

Celebrating 150 Years of VandeMataram 

Composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and immortalised in his novel Anandamath, Vande Mataram awakened the spirit of India’s freedom struggle

Watch this video to know more about the journey of India’s National Song and its enduring… pic.twitter.com/EEdGfDW4Ac

— PIB India (@PIB_India) November 6, 2025

Vande Mataram debate

Political observers believe the BJP wants to take up the issue of Bengali identity and culture in an attempt to get rid of the label of "outsider." Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay is one of the strongest symbols of what is called "Bangalir aitijya" ("বাঙালির ঐতিহ্য"). In a nutshell, it means the tradition, heritage, or legacy of Bengal and refers to the long-standing customs, beliefs, or knowledge passed down through generations. 

Rabindranath Tagore's Nehru letter

The BJP also forgets the fact that Rabindranath Tagore supported Nehru in dropping all but the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram. According to Sabyasachi Bhattacharya’s book, 'Vande Mataram: The Biography of a Song,' the Nobel laureate wrote to Nehru, "I freely concede that the whole of Bankim's 'Vande Mataram' poem, read together with its context, is liable to be interpreted in ways that might wound Moslem susceptibilities, but a national song, though derived from it, which has spontaneously come to consist only of the first two stanzas of the original poem, need not remind us every time of the whole of it, much less of the story with which it was accidentally associated." Tagore is considered the greatest icon of Bengal. 

Bengali identity politics

If reports are to be believed, West Bengal BJP President Samik Bhattacharya has decided to replace the slogan of 'Jai Shri Ram' with 'Joy Maa Durga' and 'Joy Maa Kali,' which may sync well with the Bengali psyche. Similarly, the state unit will not take the Ram Temple issue beyond a limit lest it irritate those people who identify themselves with Durga or Kali, rather than Lord Rama. Secondly, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee has already taken the lead on the issue of Hindutva by building the Jagannath Temple in the coastal town of Digha. As most of the Bengalis, particularly the urban ones, visit the Jagannath Temple in Puri, the temple in Digha serves the political and electoral interests of the ruling party. It also syncs well with the Bengali psyche and its pantheon. 

TMC vs BJP

The BJP made blunders while raising this issue during the 2021 West Bengal assembly election. Most of the central BJP leaders, including PM Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, declared in the rallies that they would not tolerate the backwardness of Rabindranath Tagore's birthplace of Bolepur. While attacking the TMC, they were not told that Tagore was born in his Jorasanko house in the city of Kolkata (Calcutta). Bolepur is the place where he established Visva Bharati University. Similarly, the saffron party raised the issue of nationalism and quoted Tagore, forgetting that the Nobel laureate wrote articles attacking nationalism. The saffron party misquoted the great poet, adding to the anger of the "bhadralok Bangalis." 

Bengal culture and politics

When PM Modi taunted the chief minister with his "didi-oh-didi" address, it did not go down well with the masses, who considered it an insult to women. TMC leader and Mamata Banerjee's nephew Abhishek Banerjee insisted that with his "Didi-O-Didi catcall," PM Modi had "insulted all women." He asked, "Should the PM of India's membership not be cancelled for insulting women by catcalling the CM with Didi O Didi? Why should his membership not be cancelled? He has insulted all women." 

Though the saffron party raised the issue of 'Vande Mataram' to attack Nehru, it may not go down well with the people of West Bengal, who may not like the idea of using Banking Chandra Chattopadhyay for brownie points and electoral and political gains. As the West Bengal Election 2025 is likely to be held in February, the ruling TMC and the BJP may clash on the issue. It is yet to be seen how it may impact the polls.