'Vande Mataram' showed India the way to self-reliance. "It became a mantra to challenge external companies, which also expanded the mantra of independence towards the mantra of Swadeshi,” prime minister Narendra Modi said in the Lok Sabha on Monday, as he initiated a debate on the occasion of the completion of 150 years of the national song.

“It is the mantra and the chanting that gave energy and inspiration to the freedom movement of the country, showed the path of sacrifice and penance, the sacred remembrance of that Vande Mataram is the supreme good fortune of all of us,” he said in Hindi.

“At a time when there was a conspiracy to take the national song of the British door to door, Bankim Babu [Chattopadhyaya] took up the challenge and Vande Mataram was born.”

The song, written in Sanskritised Bangla by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyaya in 1875, was included in his novel, 'Anand Math' published in 1882. It was adopted as the national song of India in 1950.

“Vande Mataram revived the idea that had been rooted in the vein of India for thousands of years,” the PM said, adding that when the British committed a sin with the partition of Bengal in 1905, 'Vande Mataram' stood like a rock.”

Innumerable brave sons of Mother India had embraced the gallos while singing 'Vande Mataram' till their last breath, he said.

“Today, it is important to know why injustice and betrayal was committed in the last century against such a great Vande Mataram,” he said, blaming the opposition for it. “Under the pressure of appeasement politics, the Congress had bowed down for the 'partition' of Vande Mataram, and that is why the Congress had to bow down to the partition of India one day.”

"Vande Mataram ... is not just a song or a poem, it is an inspiration for us, it reminds us of the duties towards the nation ... We are taking forward the dream of a self-reliant India, we have to fulfill it. Vande Mataram is our inspiration. We want to give strength to the Swadeshi movement, the time will change, the form will change, but the strength of that sentiment that Pujya Gandhi had expressed [continues] ...

"The dream of the great men of the country was of independent India, today's generation of the country's dream is prosperous India, the dream of independent India was nurtured by the spirit of Vande Bharat, the spirit of Vande Bharat; the dream of a prosperous India will be nurtured by the spirit of Vande Bharat, we have to walk forward with the same feelings. ... If someone could dream of an independent India 50 years before independence, then 25 years before the centenary of independence, we can also dream of a prosperous India, dream of a developed India ...," he said, concluding his speech by chanting 'Vande Mataram' three times.