Vande Mataram Gets Equal Legal Protection

• President Droupadi Murmu has approved the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026.
• The law gives Vande Mataram the same legal protection as the national anthem.
• Intentional disruption or prevention of its singing can now attract criminal penalties.
• Vande Mataram will be sung from the Red Fort during this year’s Independence Day celebrations.

GG News Bureau
New Delhi, 11th Aug: President Droupadi Murmu has given assent to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, bringing into law provisions that criminalise the intentional disruption or prevention of the singing of Vande Mataram, the national song.

With the President’s assent, Vande Mataram will receive the same legal protection under the law as the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana.

The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on July 30, while the Rajya Sabha cleared it on July 29.

Disruption of national song made punishable
The amended law expands the existing provisions of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act to cover deliberate acts that prevent the singing of Vande Mataram or cause disturbance to an assembly engaged in singing it.

Previously, the law specifically prohibited intentional prevention of the singing of the national anthem or disturbance of an assembly engaged in such singing. Such offences could attract imprisonment of up to three years, a fine, or both, while a second or subsequent conviction carried a minimum one-year imprisonment.

The amendment extends these provisions to the national song.

Vande Mataram to be sung at Red Fort
The Union Home Ministry has said that Vande Mataram will be sung from the ramparts of the Red Fort for the first time during the Independence Day function this year.

The move comes as India marks 150 years of Vande Mataram.

The legislation notes that Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, played a historic role in India’s freedom struggle.

It also refers to a statement made by Constituent Assembly President Dr Rajendra Prasad on January 24, 1950, that Vande Mataram would be honoured equally with Jana Gana Mana and have equal status.

Six stanzas prescribed for official functions
Earlier this year, the Union Home Ministry issued protocols for the singing of Vande Mataram.

Under the January 28 order, all six stanzas of the national song, with a duration of approximately 3 minutes and 10 seconds, are to be sung at designated official functions, including occasions involving the arrival of the President, unfurling of the National Flag and addresses by Governors.

The order also specified that when Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana are both sung or played, the national song will be performed first.

It further directed that assemblies where the national song is sung should stand at attention and stated that schools should begin the day’s work with community singing of Vande Mataram.