New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi listed several historical facts and incidents in his speech initiating a special discussion in the Parliament on Monday, marking the sesquicentennial celebration of India’s national song, Vande Mataram.

In a strong pitch against colonial rule of those days, he pointed out how the song, penned by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay about 18 years after the Revolt of 1857, marked the uprising as well as in protest against the administration’s push at promoting the British anthem “God Save the King”.

Chattopadhyay wrote the poem in a mix of Sanskrit and Bengali words, which he later used in his book Anandamath, published in 1882.

The theme is set on the events of the eighteenth century ‘Sannyasis’ (Hindu monks) rebellion against the East India Company’s rul

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