New Delhi: Prime Minister Narendra Modi will inaugurate the year-long commemoration marking 150 years of India’s National Song “Vande Mataram” at the Indira Gandhi Indoor Stadium on Friday. He will also unveil a commemorative stamp and coin to mark the occasion.
According to a statement from the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO), the event will begin at 9:30 a.m. and formally launch the nationwide celebrations that will run from November 7, 2025, to November 7, 2026. The year-long programme aims to honour the timeless composition that inspired India’s freedom movement and continues to embody national pride and unity.
As part of the celebrations, there will be a mass singing of the full version of “Vande Mataram” at 9:50 a.m. across the country, with citizens from all walks of life participating simultaneously with the main event in New Delhi.
Written by Bankimchandra Chatterji on Akshaya Navami, November 7, 1875, “Vande Mataram” was first published in the literary journal Bangadarshan as part of Chatterji’s novel Anandamath. The song, which personifies the Motherland as a symbol of strength, prosperity, and divinity, became a poetic expression of India’s spirit of unity and self-respect — and an enduring emblem of devotion to the nation.
