Vande Matharam - if only they knew

Set in an extremely fetching tune, this Bengali song penned by Bankim Chandra Chatterji is always a pleasure to listen to, more so if you knew the meaning.
For some unfathomable reason this song has always received brickbats. What is so ‘un-secular’ about this song, that some schools want this song to be kicked out of their morning prayers? Many might know that this song lost the poll for the National Anthem to Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana for the reason that it is Hinduistic and hence unfit to be the National Anthem of an apparently secular country.
Except that the two words ‘Vande Mataram’ are commonly seen in devotional songs on Ma Durga, a Hindu Goddess, nothing is ‘Hinduistic’ about this song, that now it should lose its status as the National Song.

           

Here is an English translation of the song:

Vande Matharam, Sujalam                   
I bow to thee my mother, you with the pure waters

Suf(ph)alam, Malayaja sheethalam, 
the sweet fruits and sandal smelling mountains,

Sasya shyamalam, Matharam, 
clothed in green, My mother.

Vande Matharam. 
I bow to thee my mother.

Supra Jodhsna Pulakitha Yamini
The moonlight shines on you, the beautiful,

Pulla kusumitha drumadala shobini
when your scented flowers bloom away.

Suhasini, sumadura bhashini
Sweetly smiling, you speak the sweetest languages,

Sukadham varadham Matharam,
You are an eternal fountain of good wishes,

Vande Matharam.
I bow to thee my mother.

My true belief is that none of those fighting over it know its meaning. The Bengalis, unfortunately with the communist rule and all, never had much to say.