While Rabindranath Tagore mobilised nationalist sentiments through poetry and music, his nephew, Abhindranath, offered a visual symbol of unity and resistance in the image of Bharat Mata. But that inclusive and gentle image of Bharat Mata has since been reinterpreted as a more exclusionary, upper-caste, and militant figure.
Published Jun 08, 2025 | 6:32 PM ⚊ Updated Jun 11, 2025 | 9:11 AM
As Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India, Bharat Mata is not the property of any one group – she belongs to all Indians, across caste, region, and faith.
Synopsis: The Kerala governor’s office displayed a portrait of Bharat Mata holding a saffron flag – widely associated with the RSS – during a World Environment Day event, prompting a boycott by the state’s agriculture department and triggering a political row. The CPI(M)-led government criticised the inclusion of the image, calling it an attempt to introduce ideological symbolism into an official function. As tensions escalated, artists emphasised the painting’s historical and pluralistic roots.
Kerala politics is currently engulfed in an intense debate, which has sparked the latest confrontation between the CPI(M)-led state government and Governor Rajendra Vishwanath Arlekar. At the centre of the controversy is a picture of Bharat Mata.
It all began at a 5 June World Environment Day event held at the Raj Bhavan. The state agriculture department declined to participate, objecting to the governor’s insistence on offering floral tributes to the portrait.
The painting depicted Bharat Mata holding a saffron flag – a symbol widely associated with the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS).
The state government viewed the gesture as an attempt to introduce ideological symbolism into an official event. The Raj Bhavan, however, defended the move as a matter of tradition.
What followed was a political stand-off: Minister P Prasad boycotted the function, the governor remained firm, and opposition leaders accused the Raj Bhavan of being turned into a Sangh Parivar outpost.
Amid the political storm, artists in the state have begun offering a different perspective.
For them, the image of Bharat Mata is not the monopoly of any one ideology. The story of Bharat Mata, they argue, predates the saffron symbolism now often attached to her.
The original concept of Bharat Mata can be traced back to Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Abanindranath Tagore, and a lineage of Bengali thinkers – well before the RSS or its founders emerged on the national scene.
It was Abanindranath Tagore, the nephew of Rabindranath Tagore who gave Bharat Mata a visual identity.
Bharat Mata first appeared in literary form in Chatterjee’s novel Anandamath, where the motherland was depicted symbolically. It was Abanindranath Tagore, Rabindranath Tagore’s nephew, who gave her a visual identity.
His painting, rendered in the distinctive Bengal School of Art style, showed Bharat Mata with four arms and clad in saffron, evoking divine figures such as Kali and Durga – yet with a calm, nurturing presence.
This image was later popularised by Sister Nivedita, the British-born disciple of Swami Vivekananda.
Created during the political ferment surrounding the 1905 Bengal Partition, the painting – now housed in the Victoria Memorial Museum in Kolkata – was part of the Tagore family’s broader resistance to colonial rule.
While Rabindranath Tagore mobilised nationalist sentiments through poetry and music, his nephew offered a visual symbol of unity and resistance.
As Jawaharlal Nehru wrote in The Discovery of India, Bharat Mata is not the property of any one group – she belongs to all Indians, across caste, region, and faith.
Dr Amal C Rajan, researcher and activist, told South First that the inclusive and gentle image of Bharat Mata has since been reinterpreted, most notably by the RSS, which projects a more exclusionary, upper-caste and militant version.
“Today, there is an attempt to replace her with a hyper-masculine version, associated with aggression in the manner now portrayed,” he said.
Ponniam Chandran, former Secretary of the Kerala Lalithakala Akademi and known for his anti-fascist artworks, has strongly criticised the governor’s decision to showcase the RSS’s version of Bharat Mata at a recent official function.
Speaking to South First, Chandran noted that the original image popularised decades ago depicted a woman holding the national flag, with the map of India in the background.
Ponniam Chandran
“Mahatma Gandhi was the first to effectively use symbols such as the charkha and khadi for political mobilisation and communicating ideology,” he said.
However, Chandran argued, the RSS later appropriated these symbols for political purposes.
“The RSS adapted this strategy, recognising its power to mobilise people, and began using other cultural symbols like sindoor and Raksha Bandhan, which are primarily associated with the Hindu majority and mythology. Bharat Mata became one of these symbols,” he added.
He pointed out that the RSS’s concept of Akhand Bharat – a fantastical vision of an ‘undivided India’ that includes parts of Pakistan and Afghanistan – is also symbolised by a saffron flag.
Chandran warned that the RSS is attempting to consolidate its ideological vision not only through politics, but also through culture, art, and music – trends that Kerala too has been witness to lately.
Meanwhile, CK Viswanathan, a prominent painter and journalist based in Thiruvananthapuram, who studied at Kala Bhavana, Visva-Bharati University, Santiniketan, told South First that the controversy is entirely unnecessary.
“There’s no need to give such importance to a painting. It’s entirely the vision of the artist who created it,” he said.
CK Viswanathan
Viswanathan recalled that similar debates have erupted in the past.
“The most famous was around MF Husain. He portrayed Hindu goddesses like Saraswati in the nude, and for that, he was politically targeted and eventually forced to leave the country. He settled in Qatar,” he said.
“But back then, many with cultural sensibilities stood by him, defending his right to artistic freedom and creative expression.”
He also cited the example of Raja Ravi Varma, whose depictions of Hindu goddesses gained widespread recognition.
“Artists across India have recreated those images based on their own cultures and imaginations. The image of Bharat Mata also falls in that lineage,” he said.
“For an artist, the map of India might appear like a woman draped in a saree. That’s a creative interpretation – not something conceived by the RSS or the Congress. It is purely a product of the artist’s imagination.”
Viswanathan added that the RSS has its own version of Bharat Mata, which is also an artistic creation.
“Why give it so much importance? In Kolkata, even communists revere Kali Maa – it’s part of culture, not just belief or political ideology,” he said.
“The organisers [of the Raj Bhavan event] simply used a painting as part of the stage décor. And now people are divided and arguing over a painting. It’s quite ridiculous.”
The Communist Party of India (CPI), a key ally of the ruling Left Democratic Front, held a statewide tree-planting drive across all its branches on Saturday, accompanied by the hoisting of the national flag.
Through this symbolic act, the CPI aimed to affirm that the national flag is the true and inclusive representation of Bharat Mata.
CPI Rajya Sabha MP Binoy Viswam urged all party units to participate in the protest by raising the national flag and planting saplings. The action forms part of the CPI’s ongoing political campaign against the governor.
On Friday, CPI MP Sandosh Kumar P wrote to the President of India demanding the governor’s recall.
The party believes that Minister P Prasad’s boycott has politically benefited the Left. In line with this assessment, the CPI intends to sustain the issue through public campaigns and symbolic protest.
While the CPI continues to build momentum, the CPI(M) and Chief Minister Pinarayi Vijayan have so far maintained silence on the controversy.
(Edited by Dese Gowda)
