BV Kakkilaya Inspired Oration – 2026

Vande Mataram – Vaishnava Janato: Two Songs, Two Nationalisms

By Sri Sanjay Hegde, Senior Advocate, Supre Court of India
on Friday, October 2, 2026 at Raveendra Kalabhavana, University College, Mangaluru

BV Kakkilaya Inspired Oration – 2026, titled Vande Mataram – Vaishnava Janato: Two Songs, Two Nationalismst, was delivered by Sri Sanjay Hegde, Senior Advocate, Supre Court of India,  on Sunday, October 2, 2026 at 4.30pm at Raveendra Kalabhavana, University College,  Balmatta, Mangaluru. It was well attended by intellectuals, academics, writers, lawyers, students and general public. The oration was organised under the aegis of Hosatu Monthly, Bangalore, MS Krishnan Trust, Bangalore, and Samadarshi Vedike, Mangalore.

The annual BV Kakkilaya Inspired Orations are being organised since 2013 as a tribute to the life and work of Sri BV Kakkilaya (1919-2012), and to promote alternative thought and approach to the problems of the suffering masses of our country.

Delivering the oration, Sri Sanjay Hegde narrated the origins of Vande Mataram, its role in the freedom movement in the erstwhile province of Bengal, the controversies around it, the debates that it ignited and the ways our great leaders used to manage these, and urged that Vaishnava Jana To, composed by the great Junagadh poet Narasing Mehta and adopted by Mahatma Gandhi as the inspiring mass prayer, be declared and promoted as the National Prayer.

https://www.mangaloretoday.com/main/SC-Senior-advocate-Sanjay-Hegde-calls-for-recognition-of-Vaishnava-Jana-To-as-national-prayer.html

https://english.varthabharati.in/karavali/the-question-of-two-stanzas-or-six-was-answered-in-1937-sanjay-hegde-on-vande-mataram-debate-2279775

https://karavalitimes.com/supreme-court-lawyer-sanjay-hegde-calls-for-official-status-for-vaisnava-jana-to-as-national-prayer/

https://www.varthabharati.in/dakshinakannada/sanjay-hegde-appeals-to-grant-vaishnava-jana-to-the-status-of-national-prayer-2279747
Dr. Siddanagaouda Patil and Dr. Balasaraswathy presented him the memento.

Dr Srinivas Kakkilaya welcomed and Nagesh Kallur proposed the vote of thanks.

This was the curtain raiser: (The Hindu, Oct 2, 2026)