The parliament on Thursday passed a bill wherein any insult to the national song Vande Mataram becomes a punishable offense.
The centre asserted that the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Amendment Bill 2026 will grant status to Vande Mataram on par with national anthem, Jana Gana Mana. In a brief debate in the lower House, where only two members participated, the Minister of State for Home, Nityanand Rai, said the Congress should have given Vande Mataram its due respect during its 76 years of rule, but insisted it resorted to appeasement politics.
“For Ek Bharat, Shreshtra Bharat, we need complete (all six stanzas) Vande Mataram song,” Rai said, as he concluded his brief reply to the bill with a chant of Vande Mataram.
The Act originally prohibits intentionally preventing the singing of national anthem or causing disturbance to any assembly engaging in such singing. These offences are pronounced punishment, punishable with imprisonment of up to three years, a fine, or both. A second and every subsequent conviction is punishable with imprisonment of minimum of one year. While the amendment extends these provisions to the national song Vande Mataram as well, which was written by Rabindranath Tagore.
The bill was passed by voice vote after two members spoke. The house however rejected the opposition passing the bill.
Amid sloganeering after the passage of the bill, Lok Sabha was adjourned for the day.
This bill is the first legislation to be passed by both the houses of the parliament in the ongoing monsoon session, which has seen frequent disruptions because of the NEET protests.