The Union government has listed a bill that will make any insult or obstruction to the singing of the National Song ‘Vande Mataram’ a punishable offence for introduction in the monsoon session of Parliament, beginning Monday.
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Union home minister Amit Shah is scheduled to introduce the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, in the Rajya Sabha.
Under the bill’s provisions, the National Song will have the same legal protection as the National Anthem, the National Flag and the Constitution.
Earlier, the Union Cabinet had cleared a proposal to amend the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
Under the bill’s provisions, obstructing or insulting the song’s rendition will incur a prison term of up to three years, a fine, or both.
The Union home ministry had earlier issued a direction to states, making it mandatory to play or sing the National Song at official events where the National Anthem is played. The National Anthem has to follow the National Song as per the protocol.
The ministry also directed that all six stanzas of the National Song—3.10-minute long—should be sung.
CPI (M)’s John Brittas, in a letter to Shah, expressed deep concern over the proposed bill.
“While the profound contribution of Vande Mataram to India’s freedom movement is beyond dispute and commands the highest respect from every Indian, the proposed amendment departs from the carefully evolved constitutional settlement that has governed the status of the National Anthem and the National Song since the birth of our Republic. In doing so, it risks unsettling a delicate constitutional balance founded upon pluralism, liberty of conscience and voluntary patriotism,” he said.
Brittas said the Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Bill places principal reliance upon the statement made by Dr Rajendra Prasad on January 24, 1950, that Vande Mataram “shall be honoured equally with Jana-Gana-Mana and shall have equal status with it..” However, Brittas said, the Bill overlooks the constitutional setting and context in which that statement was made.
