Overview
- At anniversary events, Union Education Minister Dharmendra Pradhan called Vande Mataram “very much relevant” and urged schools to encourage children to sing it as a mass campaign.
- A Karnataka BJP MP’s claim that Tagore wrote Jana Gana Mana to welcome British officials drew protests from Trinamool Congress leaders in Kolkata.
- Archival records include Tagore’s 1937 letter rejecting any dedication to King George V and describing the anthem as a hymn to a divine dispenser of destiny.
- Historians highlight the Congress Working Committee’s public 1937 decision to use only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram for inclusivity, noting consultations that included Tagore.
- In Assam, police booked a local Congress leader for singing Tagore’s Amar Sonar Bangla, prompting civil society demonstrations in Kolkata and feeding cross-state political tensions ahead of West Bengal’s 2026 polls.