Nations reveal themselves through the symbols they elevate. In 1950, India made a careful choice. For the national anthem, the Constituent Assembly considered Vande Mataram, Jana Gana Mana, and Saare Jahan Se Achha. All had stirred the freedom struggle.
Yet, the Assembly gave Jana Gana Mana primacy as the National Anthem and accorded the first two verses of the Vande Mataram the status of the National Song. Sare Jahan Se Accha, in Urdu, was dropped from consideration primarily because its author Sir Muhammed Iqbal was one of the ideological fathers of the Pakistan project.
That hierarchy—placing Jana Gana Mana at the top—as the anthem was deliberate. The two songs reflected two different ideas of India. The recent move to require playing of all six verses of the Vande Mataram, and giving it precedence at official events unsettles that settlement. It suggests that what the framers resolved through debate can be rearranged by executive instruction. It risks shifting the Republic’s centre of gravity.