President Murmu approves Bill granting Vande Mataram equal legal protection as national anthem

President Droupadi Murmu on Tuesday gave assent to a Bill that criminalises intentional disruption or prevention of the singing of the national song 'Vande Mataram', conferring on it the same legal protection currently accorded to the national anthem 'Jana Gana Mana'. With this assent, the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, has become law.

The Lok Sabha passed the Bill on July 30, and the Rajya Sabha cleared it a day earlier. The legislation amends the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, which earlier prohibited intentionally preventing the singing of the national anthem or causing disturbance to any assembly engaged in such singing.

Under the amended law, the same penalties will apply to offences against the national song. These offences are punishable with up to three years of imprisonment, a fine, or both. A second or subsequent conviction attracts a minimum of one year's imprisonment.

Previously, the Act did not extend this protection to 'Vande Mataram'. The amendment seeks to address this gap by including the national song within the scope of Section 3 of the Act.

The Bill notes that on January 24, 1950, the President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, had stated that the song 'Vande Mataram', composed by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, which played a historic role in the Indian freedom struggle, shall be honoured equally with the national anthem and shall have equal status with it.

Earlier this year, the Union Home Ministry issued a set of protocols for the singing of the national song. An order dated January 28 directed that all six stanzas of 'Vande Mataram', lasting 3 minutes and 10 seconds, shall be sung at official functions such as the arrival of the president, unfurling of the national flag, and speeches of governors.

The order also stated that when the national song and the national anthem are sung or played together, the national song will be sung or played first. It added that the assembly where the national song is sung shall stand in attention, and that in all schools, the day's work shall begin with community singing of the national song.

The Home Ministry also announced that for the first time at an Independence Day function, 'Vande Mataram' will be sung from the ramparts of the Red Fort.