“Abide With Me” a Christian hymn by Scottish Anglican Henry Francis Lyte which has been performed by Indian military bands on Beating The Retreat ceremony, on 29 January since 1950, recently ran into a bit of controversy.

Certain reports, from 15 January suggested that Mahatma Gandhi’s supposedly favourite hymn "Abide with Me" was being dropped from this year’s Beating the Retreat ceremony and instead being replaced with Vande Mataram, our national song.

Although the Defense Ministry put all those rumors to rest and declared that the hymn was not being dropped, in fact, Vande Mataram is going to be a new addition to this ceremony, this short-lived controversy still ended up triggering a conversation around this hymn.

What does it means for this colonial vestige to be a part of Republic Day and for the Indian army? Does its religious tones not cater to nationalism? How did this song make its way to India? Tune in to The Big Story for more!

Producer and Host: Shorbori Purkayastha
Guests: Sonam Kalra, Musician
Debaditya Bhattacharya, Assistant Prof, Dept of English, Kazi Nazrul University, WB
Ashok Mehta, Former Major General of the Indian Army
Editor: Shelly Walia

References:

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