Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, played an important role in “galvanising the freedom movement and nation”, said governor R.N. Ravi during his visit to Jadavpur University on Friday.
He was at JU to mark Bankim's birth anniversary.
“Vande Mataram drove the alien powers away. It galvanised the nation. It is a salutation to the Bharat Mata. But some people have difficulty. We don’t blame them. Because over time, the sense of Bharat being the mother was deliberately weakened,” Ravi said in his address at Triguna Sen auditorium.
“It was weakened. In fact, it was emasculated during the colonial period. Unfortunately, after Independence, they continued to do so. If the generations today have difficulty in understanding, perhaps the responsibility lies with the fact that they have not been introduced, they have not been made acquainted with who we are and how we call Bharat a mother,” he said.
During an interaction with vice-chancellors of 16 state-aided universities, including JU, at Raj Bhavan on Monday, Ravi had underscored the significance of Vande Mataram, the national song.
This year marks 150 years of the national song.
Ravi said Bankim was born at a time when the nation was in “utter distress”. “... (his) birth was divinely ordained for a purpose, to wake up the nation and unshackle its chained soul. When we hear Vande Mataram, it is like a Vedic mantra... People were struck by the magic of this mantra, and the nation woke up,” he said.
Memorandum
Members of the RSS-affiliated Akhil Bharatiya Rashtriya Shaikshik Mahasangh (ABRSM) at JU on Friday gave a memorandum to Ravi, seeking the removal of the varsity’s acting registrar and finance officer. Buddhadeb Shau, a former JU vice-chancellor who is a member of the association, alleged that the tenures of the acting registrar and finance officer were extended beyond the permissible six months. They also questioned the election of teachers’ representatives to the executive council, the highest decision-making body of JU.