India Passes Bill Making Insult to National Song Punishable Offence

Vande Mataram, India's national song, received legal protection on Thursday after the Parliament passed a bill making any insult to it a punishable offence , reviving a long-running debate over its place in the country's history and identity. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, extends to Vande Mataram the legal protections currently available to the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. It makes intentionally preventing the singing of the national song or causing a disturbance during its rendition a criminal offence. The offences are punishable with up to three years' imprisonment, a fine, or both. A second and every subsequent conviction carries a mandatory minimum prison term of one year. The Bill was passed by voice vote in the Lok Sabha amid noisy scenes. Replying to a brief debate in the lower House, in which only two members participated, Minister of State for Home Nityananda Rai said the Congress should have accorded Vande Mataram its due respect during its 76 years in power, but instead resorted to appeasement politics. " For Ek Bharat, Shreshtra Bharat , we need the complete (all six stanzas) Vande Mataram song," Rai said, concluding his reply with a chant of Vande Mataram . The amendments moved by the Opposition were rejected by the House. DMK MP A Raja later tore up some documents and threw them towards the Well of the House, while party colleague K Kanimozhi opposed the Bill, calling it a "Hindutva agenda" brought masquerading as nationalism. "It is against federalism. You cannot impose nationalism by bringing a law; the song goes against the secularism of the country. The founding fathers had the wisdom to stop only with two stanzas, but today you are trying to polarise the country by making it compulsory and making it a criminal offence if we do not sing all the six stanzas," she said. BJP MP Sambit Patra said the Congress, during its 76 years in power, did not give Vande Mataram the respect it deserved as the national song. The national song has continued to trigger debate over its "secular" or "anti-Islamic" character and the role it played in India's freedom struggle.