Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Friday said the national song ‘Vande Mataram’ inspired the Indian independence movement and kept the country united after independence.
Addressing a program organized on the occasion of the 150th anniversary of this song at the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) office in Patna, Shah said that the dreams seen by the freedom fighters were fulfilled through collective efforts in the last 11 years.
Shah said that Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay had published this song on November 7, 1875, which later became a symbol of the Indian independence movement and kept India united even after independence. He said, “The dreams seen by our freedom fighters have been realized through collective efforts in the last 11 years. From today we are starting a gradual campaign of collective chanting of ‘Vande Mataram’ throughout the year.”
Shah told that on August 15, 1947, on the request of Sardar Patel, Pandit Omkarnath Thakur had sung the entire song and on January 24, 1950, the then President Dr. Rajendra Prasad had accepted it as the national song. He said that BJP has always emphasized on cultural nationalism and ‘Vande Mataram’ has been the driving force of this nationalism.
The Home Minister said that it has been resolved to celebrate today as ‘Swadeshi Samarpan Diwas’. He said, “We all have decided that today we will dedicate this day to Swadeshi.”
‘Swadeshi Sankalp Patra’ was also read out in the programme, which called for the use of Indian products in place of foreign goods in daily life, encouragement of local industries, use of Indian languages and increasing awareness of Swadeshi among the public.
Shah appealed to the youth and children to inspire them to adopt Swadeshi and said that they should give priority to Indian tourist destinations. He announced that ‘Vande Mataram 150’ campaign will be launched on social media, under which people will give the message of national unity and cultural pride by writing ‘Vande Mataram’ in their mother tongue.
In this function organized in the presence of BJP leaders and workers, ‘Vande Mataram’ was worshiped collectively and the Swadeshi campaign was launched.
