the soul stirring,national song "vande mataram" was written by bankim chandra chatterjee on 7th september, 1876...initially adopted as the national anthem, later rejected on baseless grounds, thus being adopted as the national song.

tomorrow the 7 September 2006, as a mark of respect of the song completing 100+ yrs, it has been made compulsory to sing the national song in all educational institutions!

a hue and cry over this compulsion as been doing the rounds in the print media, electronic media..jus about everywhere.

did i say hue and cry?? well i did and honestly i fail to understand the reasons behind it...

firstly a national song is inherently "national"! doesnt specifically belong to a religion.it is a song for the nation, of the nation to be sung by the citizens of that nation!!!

where then did the concept of religion creep in..
the british successfully lived out their motto of "divide and rule". they have left long back, but our netas continue to follow their ideals!!!

its sick to see our politicians indulge in such cheap a tactic to fulfill their vested interests... supposed men of wisdom,its high time the word itself is given an after thought..

coming to the other school of thought..that of the self proclaimed protectors of religion...which part of the word" national song" connotes religion? how is paying reverence to the nation, deemed as praising one particular god....

a truly religious person will not be this insecure.. religious fervour and national fervour are two different things...each to their own..

a true national will sing the national song irrespective of his religion.
a true devout will silently be devoted to his religion.

if only our "supposed" men of wisdom are devoted to the cause of the nation as a whole and not their personal cause, the media will then probably run out of business!!! what with no new controversy cropping up, there will be not much left for them to do...