Amid Opposition protests, House clears Bill criminalising insult to Vande Mataram

“Today is a very dangerous day for Parliament and the country. I have carefully gone through the reasons and objects of the Bill… One person and one song [are] important for this country having a communal outlook. Why did Partition happen? One person… and one song…,” he said.

Raja sought to make “a legal point”, but the Chair did not allow him to continue and put his amendment to vote, which was defeated.

Joining the debate, DMK MP Kanimozhi alleged that the Bill was a “Hindutva agenda masquerading as nationalism” and accused the government of trying to “impose nationalism through law”. She argued that the Constituent Assembly had consciously accepted only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram and said making all six stanzas mandatory would undermine the country’s secular character. Referring to Tamil Nadu’s long-standing state song, she said the legislation disrespected states with their own official songs and accused the government of using the issue to polarise the country.

Minister of State for Home Nityanand Rai rejected the criticism, asserting that the legislation was “a Bill of national pride” and was “not against any state, ideology or person”. He said the government respected all state songs and insisted that the amendment only sought to ensure that the National Song received the same respect as the National Anthem. Rai also accused India’s first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru of accepting only two stanzas of Vande Mataram in 1937 “for appeasement politics”, claiming that the decision encouraged the ideology that eventually led to Partition. “Now, for Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat, the entire song is needed,” he said.

Participating from the Treasury Benches, BJP MP Sambit Patra said the amendment was “not an ordinary Bill” but one that intended to ensure that people, particularly school students, could express respect for both the National Anthem and the National Song “without any hurdle”. He said the president of the Constituent Assembly, Dr Rajendra Prasad, had given an assurance that Jana Gana Mana and Vande Mataram would enjoy equal respect, but the promise has not been fulfilled over the past 76 years because of the Congress leadership.

Earlier, while introducing the Bill, Rai had described it as “not just a statutory amendment” but “a commitment to India’s soul, cultural heritage, national consciousness and the ideals of the freedom struggle”. Invoking Vande Mataram composer Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, Swami Vivekananda and Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, he said Prime Minister Narendra Modi was fulfilling the vision of according Vande Mataram its rightful place in national life. Rai recalled that Patel had asked classical vocalist Omkarnath Thakur to sing the full Vande Mataram on All India Radio on the morning of August 15, 1947, and said freedom fighters, including Chandrashekhar Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil and Ashfaqullah Khan, had gone to the gallows with “Vande Mataram” on their lips.

The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill is the first legislation to be passed by both Houses of Parliament in the ongoing Monsoon Session, which has seen frequent disruptions by the Opposition mainly over the NEET paper leak issue.