Vande Mataram Bill cleared in LS, insulting national song to become criminal offence

New Delhi, July 30 (IANS) The Lok Sabha cleared the Vande Mataram Bill on Thursday amid the din in the House and following a brief debate on the crucial legislation.

The bill — Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, was cleared by the Lower House with a voice vote, setting the stage for bringing the National Song – Vande Mataram, on the same footing as that of National Anthem – Jana Gana Mana.

The bill was approved by the Rajya Sabha on Wednesday.

While Lok Sabha debated the Bill before its passage, the House proceedings were marred by continued protests and noisy ruckus by the Opposition as the latter kept demanding answers from the government over police excesses during the students’ agitation over NEET paper leaks.

The DMK voiced strong opposition to the Bill, saying that this is being imposed on people against their will and is an attempt to polarise the atmosphere.

DMK MP Kanimozhi said that the country’s forefathers had the wisdom to adopt only two stanzas of the national song, but the Union government was furthering its divisive agenda by weaponising the legislation.

“DMK opposes the Bill. It is undemocratic, it is against the Parliamentary traditions to pass the Bill in this din. You must listen to the voice of people, listen to all the stakeholders,” she added.

BJP MP Sambit Patra strongly defended the bill. He said that the Parliament has already held marathon debate on the national song Vande Mataram and the proposed legislation is now giving legal protection to it.

Hitting out at the Gandhis, Patra said that seven decades have passed since Independence, but legal sanctity still awaits the national song.

Defending the Bill, he added that people of the country will now be able to show same reverence to the National Anthem as well as the National Song.

Nityanand Rai, Minister of State for Home Affairs, said that the Congress leadership under Jawaharlal Nehru had adopted the truncated version of the ‘Vande Mataram’ to further its politics of appeasement, and it was imperative to have course correction on the national song.

He said that Vande Mataram is a matter of national pride and it will give strong impetus to the vision of ‘Ek Bharat, Shrestha Bharat’.

The Vande Mataram Bill is now set to become legislation after the President’s ascent.

Once it becomes legislation, any intentional disruption or prevention of singing of the national song, Vande Mataram, will make the act a punishable offence and invite legal action.

–IANS

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