“Tagore did a very good job in composing Jana Gana Mana given the George IV brief”

What was this brief? And, please provide supporting data in evidence, not your interpretation.

“Tagore was able to get away with it because he was a poet who wanted to convey a message that resonated with the Indians and gave George V what he wanted”

Which George was it, then? IV or V? And, given that Tagore did not write an explanation for Jana gana mana, what is your data to prove what Tagore wanted to convey?

“Tagore’s insistance on the dispenser of India’s destiny as humanism and not God goes against the grain of nations who want God to be on their nation’s side”

Evidence, again? Where did Tagore ever say this?

Its singing in public could never have given the British rulers to make charges of disaffection, yet the message of unity for all Indians in it was clear. Tagore was able to get away with it because he was a poet who wanted to convey a message that resonated with the Indians and gave George V what he wanted. Tagore said of its composition that was quite overcome, so powerfully did it play on his emotions as an India. That is so much of the history.

National anthems are the most compelling when they resonate with historic or evoke religious feelings. The American and British national anthems have elements of both. Any insistance that war or religion should be exempt from the national anthem would be to compromise the greatest service it should serve.

Tagore’s insistance on the dispenser of India’s destiny as humanism and not God goes against the grain of nations who want God to be on their nation’s side. Even with the multiplicity of religions Indians have happily subscribed to this interpretation. It would serve its greatest purpose of Hindus removed any reservations they have and accept this and really move with the time that there should be no fissures of status between them except that warrented by their own merit.

Vande Mataram’s translation in English has a beauty all of its own. It should be remembered that the American’s did not formally adopt their athem until about a hundred years after theirs was composed. We have passed the 100 year water mark as regards the composition of both Indian compositions. The greatest challenge for India is that Hindu society in political terms is in a state of stasis. Tagore’s would serve a greater purpose than Chatterjee’s. The selection of the national anthem has to be a hard nosed decision. As beautiful as Vande Mataram is, it will not contribute to India’s evolution just by wishfull thinking.

I would say more of a vote grabbing/grubbing (?) tactic by certain parties to put Indian muslims on the defensive and to show themselves to be upholders of hindu (and patriotic?) sentiments.

My reading is that this was an abstract construct, referring to the collective conscience of the people of Bharat:

জন গণ মন অধিনায়ক জয় হে.
ভারত ভাগ্য বিধাতা

Jana = people
Gana = also people, but also spirits?
Mana = minds
Adhinayaka = Leader
Jayo he = be victorious
Bharata = India
Bhagyo = destiny, luck
Bidhata = god, arbiter

Choose your interpretation based on the above!

Cheers