Vande Mataram the novel containing it was banned by the British government, but workers and general public defied the ban, many went to colonial prisons repeatedly for singing it, and the ban was overturned by the Indians after they gained independence from the colonial rule. In 1950 (after India's independence), the first two verses of the song were declared the "national song" of the Republic of India, distinct from the national anthem of India, "Jana Gana Mana". The first two verses of the song are an abstract reference to one's mother and motherland, they do not mention any Hindu deity by name,
My Jesus I Love Thee My Jesus I Love Thee My Jesus I Love Thee is a poem written by William Ralph Featherston around 1864. He is said to have been either 12 or 16 years old when he wrote the poem. The first two lines of this poem are nearly the same as a hymn written by Caleb J. Taylor, published in 1804; this hymn is used as the basis for the song Imandra by Ananias Davisson in the "Supplement to the Kentucky Harmony" in 1820, reprinted in "Southern Harmony" in 1835. There are other similarities between Featherston's poem and camp-meeting songs published in