- Vande Mataram gains equal legal protection alongside national anthem.
President Droupadi Murmu has given assent to legislation extending legal protection to India’s national song, Vande Mataram, making intentional disruption of its singing a punishable offence. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, now law, places Vande Mataram on the same footing as the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. The legislation was passed by the Lok Sabha on July 30 and the Rajya Sabha a day earlier. The move comes ahead of Independence Day, when Vande Mataram will be sung from Red Fort for the first time.
Equal Protection
The amended law prohibits anyone from intentionally preventing the singing of Vande Mataram or causing disturbance to an assembly engaged in singing the national song.
Previously, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act protected the singing of Jana Gana Mana, with offences punishable by up to three years in prison, a fine, or both. A second or subsequent conviction carried a minimum one-year prison term.
The amendment brings the national song within the same legal framework, creating a specific provision against deliberate disruption of its performance.
The Bill noted that Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, played a historic role in India’s freedom struggle.
New Protocols
The legislation also refers to a declaration made by Constituent Assembly president Dr Rajendra Prasad on January 24, 1950, that Vande Mataram should be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and accorded the same status.
Earlier this year, the Union Home Ministry issued protocols for the singing of Vande Mataram at official functions. It directed that all six stanzas, lasting three minutes and 10 seconds, should be sung at occasions including the President’s arrival, the unfurling of the national flag and governors’ speeches.
Where Vande Mataram and the national anthem are performed together, the national song will be sung or played first.
The ministry also directed that people stand to attention while Vande Mataram is being performed. In schools, the day is to begin with community singing of the national song.
The move gives Vande Mataram statutory protection alongside Jana Gana Mana.
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Input By : PTI
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