केंद्र के नए नियमों के बाद आधिकारिक कार्यक्रमों में ‘वंदे मातरम’ अनिवार्य करने वाला बीएमसी पहला नागरिक निकाय होगा।

The Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) on Thursday passed a unanimous resolution, making it mandatory that the six stanzas of India’s national song — Vande Mataram — should be sung in all civic events in the future. The resolution was passed by Bharatiya Janata Party’s (BJP) Ganesh Khankar, who is the leader of the house in the civic body.

Khankar’s resolution aligns with the Union Home Ministry’s 10-page order dated January 18, which mandated that the six-stanza Vande Mataram song, which is 3 minutes and 10 seconds long, be sung or played at any official ceremony or occasion.

Bankim Chandra Chatterjee wrote Bande Mataram in the late 19th century in Sanskritised Bengali. The original version consisted of six stanzas. The song first found its place in his novel Anandamath, set in the late 18th century, when famine and rebellion tore through Bengal.