Republic Day is a good day for thinking about anthemic songs and their peculiar power. To observe that “most Indians don’t understand Urdu” is reasonable, but it doesn’t really follow that a poem in that language or an Urdu poet can’t be iconic. Most Indians don’t understand Sanskrit but most people would agree that Vande Mataram and its composer, Bankim Chandra, are ‘iconic’. Even Hindi; just over forty per cent of all Indians are native Hindi speakers. And many of those Hindi speakers can, with a little effort, hum along to Hum Dekhenge.

Source: The Telegraph January 25, 2020 19:07 UTC