Composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, 'Vande Mataram' was first published in the literary journal Bangadarshan on November 7, 1875. Chatterjee later incorporated the hymn in his immortal novel 'Anandamath' which was published in 1882.

It was set to music by Rabindranath Tagore and became an integral part of India's civilizational, political and cultural consciousness.

On its 150th anniversary today however, the song became a battleground for the ruling BJP and the Congress with the former accusing late Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of dropping the last four stanzas of the six part hymn to "pander to the Muslim League" at the time.

Through its October 29, 1937, resolution, the Congress Working Committee adopted the first two stanzas of the poem. The ones dropped contained references t

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