Shillong, March 11 : The Khasi Students’ Union (KSU) has strongly opposed the directive of the Government of India requiring all educational institutions, government offices, and official programmes to sing all six verses of the national song “Vande Mataram.” The organisation stated that it would not accept what it described as the imposition of the song on the Khasi community.
In a statement, Donald V. Thabah, General Secretary of the KSU explained that “Vande Mataram,” written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in 1882 in Bengali and Sanskrit, contains six verses. According to the union, the later verses include references to Hindu deities, which had earlier led to objections.
The KSU noted that in 1937 a committee consisting of Rabindranath Tagore, Maulana Azad, Subhash Chandra Bose, Acharya Deva, and Jawaharlal Nehru decided that only the first two verses of the song were appropriate for the national freedom movement, as those verses focus on the land rather than religion. The later verses were not accepted because they contain references linked to Hindu religious beliefs, which may not be acceptable to followers of other faiths.
However, the union alleged that on February 6, 2026, the Government of India issued a directive requiring that all six verses of the song be sung in government programmes and educational institutions. The KSU claimed that this move amounts to forcing people of different faiths to sing verses associated with Hindu religious imagery.
The KSU stated that the Khasi community has no cultural or religious connection with the song “Vande Mataram,” particularly the later verses praising Hindu deities. It emphasised that the Khasi people follow their own religious traditions such as Niam Tynrai–Niamtre and Christianity, which have existed long before the formation of the Indian nation-state.
The organisation argued that forcing people to sing the song would amount to an attack on the traditions, customs, and religious beliefs of the Khasi community.
The KSU also recalled a previous directive requiring schoolgirls to wear traditional attire of mainland India during Independence Day celebrations. The union had opposed the move at the time, questioning whether only mainland attire represented Indian tradition while Khasi traditional attire such as the Jainsem and Dhara were being ignored.
The KSU has now urged the Meghalaya Government, central government offices in the state, and educational institutions not to comply with the directive mandating the singing of the full version of “Vande Mataram.”
The organisation also noted that several states and communities in the North East have opposed the directive, and stressed that the Khasi people must protect their distinct cultural identity and traditions.
