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Vande Mataram was rendered from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the first time during India's 80th Independence Day celebrations on 15 August 2026.
The rendition marked the 150th year of the national song, which Bankim Chandra Chatterjee first published in his journal Bangadarshan in 1875.
A year-long nationwide commemoration approved by the Union Cabinet runs from 7 November 2025 to 7 November 2026.
Rabindranath Tagore set the song to music and sang it at the 1896 Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.
The Constituent Assembly in 1950 gave Vande Mataram equal honour and status with the National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana.
Bankim Chandra Chatterjee composes Vande Mataram; it is first published in his journal Bangadarshan.
The song is woven into his novel Anandamath, serialised in Bangadarshan and then published as a book.
Rabindranath Tagore sets the song to music and sings it at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress.
Adopted for Congress proceedings during the Swadeshi and anti-Partition of Bengal agitation.
Over 10,000 Hindus and Muslims march together at Barisal chanting Vande Mataram.
Bhikaji Cama unfurls an early version of the Indian tricolour bearing the words 'Vande Mataram' at Stuttgart, Germany.
The Congress Working Committee resolves that only the first two stanzas be used at public functions, on Tagore's suggestion.
The Constituent Assembly accords Vande Mataram equal honour and status with the National Anthem.
The Prime Minister inaugurates the year-long commemoration of 150 years of the national song.
Vande Mataram is sung from the Red Fort for the first time, at the 80th Independence Day celebrations.
| Aspect | Jana Gana Mana (National Anthem) | Vande Mataram (National Song) |
|---|---|---|
| Written by | Rabindranath Tagore | Bankim Chandra Chatterjee |
| First sung at a Congress session | Calcutta session, 27 December 1911 | Calcutta session, 1896 |
| Status conferred in 1950 | Adopted as the National Anthem | Given equal honour and status with the Anthem |
| Language of composition | Sanskritised Bengali | Sanskritised Bengali |
| Prescribed duration | 52 seconds for the full version | No prescribed duration |
GS Paper I > Modern Indian History > The Freedom Struggle and its Cultural Expressions
General Awareness > National Symbols and Modern History
General Awareness > Indian History and National Symbols
General Awareness > Static GK
General Knowledge > Indian History
The Bengali literary journal founded by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, in which Vande Mataram was first published in 1875 and Anandamath was later serialised.
Bankim's 1882 novel about the Santans, ascetic warriors fighting to liberate the motherland; the source text of Vande Mataram.
The band of ascetic warrior-devotees in Anandamath whose loyalty is to Bharat Mata, the personified motherland.
The 1905 movement against the partition of Bengal, built on boycott of British goods and promotion of indigenous production, during which Vande Mataram became a mass slogan.