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By Gopal Ram Tripathi

PARLIAMENT’S MONSOON SESSION was set for another charged day as the government moves to give Vande Mataram the same legal protection long enjoyed by the National Anthem. Union Home Minister Amit Shah will introduce the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, in the Rajya Sabha, reviving a debate over the national song's status that has simmered since a special anniversary discussion in Parliament's Winter Session. While the government frames the bill as a straightforward formalisation of respect for a symbol tied to India's freedom struggle, opposition leaders have raised questions ranging from timing to the harsher criminal penalties it proposes. 

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Amit Shah to Initiate Vande Mataram Bill in Rajya Sabha, Today’s Session is Adjourned

Union Home Minister Amit Shah was scheduled to introduce the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, in the Rajya Sabha, on the second day of Parliament's Monsoon Session before it was adjourned. The bill's introduction was added to the revised List of Business the Rajya Sabha released a day earlier.

The legislation seeks to bring Vande Mataram, India's national song, under the same legal shield currently given to the National Flag, the Constitution, and the National Anthem, Jana Gana Mana, under the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971. If passed, deliberately insulting the song or disrupting its singing would become a punishable offence, carrying up to three years in prison, mirroring the penalty structure already in place for anthem-related offences.

The bill came to the notice by a Home Ministry directive that Vande Mataram be played ahead of the National Anthem whenever both are performed together at government functions. Alongside it, Minister L. Murugan is expected to move a separate motion nominating two Rajya Sabha members to a joint parliamentary committee reviewing the "One Nation, One Election" legislation, the Constitution (129th Amendment) Bill and the Union Territories Laws (Amendment) Bill, both from 2024. Several other routine items are also listed for the day, including ministry papers from Health, Finance, and Consumer Affairs, a Subordinate Legislation Committee report on Competition Commission rules, and an election to fill a vacancy on AIIMS Bhubaneswar's governing board.

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The Timing and Scope Questioned By The Opposition

Reactions to the bill have split along predictable lines, though not always cleanly by party. Some leaders, like Janata Dal (United) MLA Shyam Rajak, have backed the move, treating both the anthem and the national song as shared heritage and calling any disruption of them an insult to the nation. 

Others have urged caution. Uttar Pradesh's Leader of Opposition, Mata Prasad Pandey, warned against treating the national song as equivalent to the national anthem, while Telangana Jana Samithi chief M. Kodandaram argued that introducing a longer, compulsory version of the song was premature and called for the government to consult experts before proceeding. 

The Congress-led opposition has raised a sharper objection over timing and framing. The party has pointed to its own history freedom fighters who were jailed for chanting Vande Mataram during the non-cooperation movement, while contesting when and how the debate on the bill is being held. The government, for its part, has insisted the legislation is meant only to formalise the song's legal status, not to reopen old political disputes. 

This isn't the first clash over the song this session cycle. During a special 10-hour debate marking Vande Mataram's 150th anniversary in the Winter Session, Rajya Sabha Leader of the Opposition Mallikarjun Kharge accused the Prime Minister and the BJP of using the discussion to divert attention from pressing economic and social issues, a charge the opposition has continued to echo as the bill itself now heads to the House. Separately, the opposition has flagged concerns over the bill's stiffer criminal provisions, even as the government maintains the law is intended to bolster respect for the country. 

The bill's introduction also comes against the backdrop of an already tense Monsoon Session, with the Lok Sabha adjourned twice amid opposition protests on unrelated issues on the same day, today’s session seems to be adjourned as well.

(Edited by Harsh Pandey)

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