Over 40,000 students from 120 schools sang the national song 'Vande Mataram' at the Yaswant stadium here this morning on the national song's 105th anniversary.

The students sang the national song in unison to the accompaniment of a school band.

They later lined up to depict India's map and national tricolour.

"Our national song Vande Mataram has completed 105 years. On this occasion, we organised an event where all the students from the city gathered here and collectively sang the song. Almost 40,000 students sang the song," said Nagpur Mayor Archana Dehankar.

The students participating in the event were delighted at getting an opportunity to express their patriotism.

"I am very happy after singing in a group. We had done a lot of practice and we are very happy," said Rishabh, a student.

The event was jointly organised by the education department of the Nagpur Municipal Corporation (NMC) and Maitree Parivar.

Vande Mataram written by eminent 19th century Bengali author Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, was voted the second most popular song in a poll by the BBC World Service in 2002. (ANI)