Government to move Bill in Rajya Sabha today to make insult to Vande Mataram a criminal offence

📌 Summary:

• The Centre began the Monsoon Session of Parliament on July 20, 2026 by listing the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026 in the Rajya Sabha, seeking statutory protection for the National Song, Vande Mataram
• The Bill amends the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, whose existing Section 3 penalises disrespect to national symbols such as the National Flag, the Constitution and the National Anthem with imprisonment of up to three years
• Proposed change: any act obstructing the singing of the National Song, or insulting it in any form, would become punishable — extending Section 3 to cover Vande Mataram
• Government's justification: at the Constituent Assembly meeting of January 24, 1950, its President Dr. Rajendra Prasad stated that Vande Mataram, composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee and historically significant in the freedom struggle, shall be honoured equally with Jana-Gana-Mana and have equal status; there is presently no specific legal provision preventing insults to the National Song
• Opposition case — CPI(M) Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas wrote to the Home Minister seeking withdrawal, arguing: (1) Vande Mataram's contribution to the freedom movement is beyond dispute, but the amendment departs from the constitutional settlement governing the Anthem and the Song since the Republic's birth (2) Dr. Rajendra Prasad's statement was not a formal Constituent Assembly resolution, much less a constitutional provision (3) After nearly three years of exhaustive deliberation, the Constituent Assembly consciously refrained from placing the National Song and National Anthem on the same legal footing, or prescribing identical statutory obligations or penal consequences (4) When Parliament enacted the 1971 Act, it deliberately restricted Section 3 to intentional prevention of the singing of the National Anthem; the omission of the National Song was not accidental but reflected Parliament's understanding that only the Anthem warranted penal protection (5) It would be constitutionally impermissible to isolate one sentence from the President's statement, divorced from the constitutional process, as the sole basis for enlarging criminal liability 76 years later

🎯 UPSC Relevance: GS2 Polity — parliamentary legislation, national symbols, and the constitutional distinction between the National Anthem and the National Song; touches on fundamental rights (free speech) and Constituent Assembly debates.

📝 Prelims Facts:

• Vande Mataram was composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee; it appears in the novel Anandamath
• Dr. Rajendra Prasad's statement on the equal status of Vande Mataram was made in the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950
• The Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971 currently protects the National Flag, the Constitution and the National Anthem, with imprisonment of up to three years
• The amending Bill is the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, introduced in the Rajya Sabha

🔑 Key Term: National Song — Vande Mataram, accorded honour equal to the National Anthem by a statement of the Constituent Assembly President in 1950, but historically without equivalent statutory penal protection.