Gitanjali Angmo, wife of climate activist Sonam Wangchuk, on Thursday, 3 September called objections to singing Vande Mataram — on the grounds that it references Hindu deities — a 'childish way of thinking', arguing that language, literature, and cultural expressions must not be filtered through the narrow prism of religious identity. Angmo made the remarks in Bhubaneswar, in what amounted to one of the more direct public interventions on the long-running national song debate.

The Core Argument: Culture Over Creed

Angmo drew a pointed analogy with Urdu poetry to make her case. 'If we read or learn a ghazal and sing it in Urdu, it is not as if a Hindu singing it would have their religion corrupted,' she said. 'Similarly, if we are reading any shloka or something and associating it with Sanskrit, then that is also very wrong. Sanskrit is a language, so what is the problem?'

She argued that references to deities in Vande Mataram — Durga as a symbol of power, Lakshmi as a symbol of abundance — are best understood symbolically rather than doctrinally. 'You cannot change it. You cannot cut any work of art,' she said, adding that the selection of the first two stanzas for official use was a practical decision, not a rejection of the rest of the composition.

Civilisational Significance and the Sri Aurobindo Lens

Angmo invoked the interpretation of Sri Aurobindo to explain what she sees as the song's deeper meaning. She described Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote Anandamath, not merely as a novelist but as a 'Rishi — a seer who could see reality.' In her reading, Chattopadhyay envisioned India not as a geographic landmass but as a living force — a 'Shakti' — with whom citizens can have a living relationship.

'It shouldn't have taken 80 years,' she said, referring to Vande Mataram being sung from the Red Fort on Independence Day for the first time. She called that development a 'welcome step', while noting that the song had been 'fading from collective memory more than it should.'

On Politics, Division, and Harmony

Asked whether political agendas have deepened divisions around Vande Mataram and Hindu culture, Angmo was direct. 'When politics enters public life with its agenda, it often attempts to distance individuals or society from their essence in the name of bringing people together. But there's no need to amputate oneself to bring everyone together,' she said.

She argued that genuine harmony is not uniformity. Using a jigsaw puzzle and a botanical garden as analogies, she said diversity — when each element is free to express its distinct character — creates a stronger collective. 'Harmony doesn't mean making everyone the same,' she said.

India's Tradition of Assimilation

Angmo cited former President A.P.J. Abdul Kalam as an example of cross-tradition engagement done without loss of identity. 'Abdul Kalam used to read the Upanishads, the Gita and Sri Aurobindo. I myself read Sufi poetry. There's no question of religion being corrupted by this,' she said. She argued that India has historically absorbed external cultural influences — including Mughal — without abandoning its own heritage, and that this capacity for assimilation should not translate into cultural self-erasure.

Vande Mataram vs Other Problems: A False Choice

Angmo pushed back against the argument that emphasis on Vande Mataram distracts from material concerns like poverty and unemployment. 'This question of Vande Mataram versus other problems is wrong,' she said. 'Vande Mataram isn't against other problems. Vande Mataram is a sentiment that inspires us to fight those problems.' She called for a broader civic shift — from asking what the country can provide to asking what the citizen can contribute — framing the song as a catalyst for that transformation. How that shift translates into policy or political will, however, remains an open question.