PT Usha likely to lead rally in Kolkata to commemorate 150 years of Vande Mataram: Lok Bhavan

Kolkata: India's athlete icon P T Usha is expected to lead a rally in Kolkata as part of a two-day programme organised by the Lok Bhavan to commemorate the 150 years of penning of Vande Mataram by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, an official said on Saturday.

The programmes, scheduled to be held on January 5 and 6, will highlight the reverence for the national song and its composer Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, the official of the Lok Bhavan said in an X post.

He said that three rallies will be held on January 5, which will culminate at Jorasanko Thakurbari, the family abode of Rabindranath Tagore in Kolkata, and an 'Akhand Jyoti' (eternal flame) will be lit there.

"On January 6, 2026, the Akhand Jyoti will be taken in a rally, expected to be led by P T Usha, from Jorasanko Thakurbari to Victoria Memorial Hall," the post said.

It said that celebrity singers, including Shreya Ghosal, Sonu Nigam, Arijit Singh, Kailash Kher, Usha Uthup, Papan, Sankar Mahadevan, and Kavita Krishnamurti will participate in a cultural programme at Victoria Memorial on January 6 and sing Vande Mataram in multiple Indian languages.

The programmes, to be conducted with the guidance and direction of Governor C V Ananda Bose, and in association with the Ministry of Culture, will commence from the places associated with the writer and the national song, it said.

Governor Bose chaired a steering committee meeting on Friday, which finalised the plans for the celebrations, the post said.

Three motorcycle rallies with 150 riders in each will be taken out from Bankim Bhavan Gabesana Kendra, the ancestral house of Chattopadhyay at Naihati in North 24 Parganas district, Kolkata's Presidency University, alma mater of the poet, and Bankim Bhavan at Chinsurah in Hooghly district, where Vande Mataram was composed, on January 5, the post said.

"The three rallies will culminate at the Jorasanko Thakurbari where Akhand Jyoti will be lit," it said, adding that a grand cultural programme will be held in the evening there.

Several other pan-India programmes are also contemplated to celebrate the 150 years of the penning of the national song, the post said.