The Union government has introduced the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Rajya Sabha, seeking to extend statutory legal protection to the national song “Vande Mataram” by making its intentional disruption or obstruction a criminal offence punishable with imprisonment of up to three years, or fine, or both.
The proposed legislation, which seeks to place the national song on the same statutory footing as the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana,” under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, was introduced in the Upper House on Friday by the Ministry of Home Affairs amid protests by Opposition MPs.
The proposed amendment seeks to substitute Section 3 of the 1971 Act. At present, the provision criminalises the intentional prevention of, or disturbance to, the singing of the national anthem. The amendment proposes to include “Vande Mataram” within the ambit of the same penal provision, making it an offence to intentionally prevent the singing of the national song or disturb any assembly engaged in its rendition. Upon enactment, persons found guilty of such acts would be liable to imprisonment for a term extending up to three years, or fine, or both.
According to the Statement of Objects and Reasons accompanying the Bill, the amendment seeks to remove the existing legislative gap by providing explicit statutory protection to Vande Mataram. It recalls that on January 24, 1950, Constituent Assembly President Dr Rajendra Prasad had declared that Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay and closely associated with India’s freedom movement, would enjoy the same honour and equal status as the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. However, despite that declaration, the national song has not received specific statutory protection comparable to that available to the national anthem under the existing law.
The government stated that the amendment was also being introduced during the year-long commemoration marking the 150th anniversary of Vande Mataram, which was written by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1876, published in his novel Anandamath in 1882 and formally adopted as India’s national song by the Constituent Assembly in 1950.
The proposed amendment intended to empower authorities to initiate criminal proceedings against any person who deliberately obstructed or disrupted the singing of Vande Mataram, including by intentionally creating disturbances during its rendition.
The Bill sparked opposition in the Rajya Sabha, with CPI(M) MP John Brittas contending that the Constituent Assembly had consciously refrained from placing the national song and the national anthem on the same constitutional footing and that, had the framers intended identical legal consequences, they would have expressly provided for the same.
The proposed legislation has also generated wider public and political debate, with some political leaders and religious organisations questioning the move on constitutional and religious grounds, while others have supported extending statutory protection to the national song.
The amendment will now undergo the parliamentary legislative process before it can be enacted into law. If passed by both Houses of Parliament and receiving Presidential assent, the amended provision will make the intentional disruption or obstruction of the singing of Vande Mataram a punishable offence under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971.
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