New Delhi, Oct. 27: The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Central government’s response on two petitions challenging the Union Home Ministry’s January 28 and July 9, 2026 orders requiring all six stanzas of Vande Mataram to be sung at formal State functions, with the petitioners seeking quashing of the orders on the ground that they depart from the long-standing practice of using the two-stanza version of the national song.
A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V. Mohana issued notice on petitions filed by Nagpur-based Buddhist and civil rights activist B.D. Borkar and former IAS officer Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji.
Borkar has contended that the two orders replace a 79-year-old practice of singing the standalone two-stanza version of Vande Mataram with the full six-stanza version which, according to his plea, contains religious and anti-Muslim references. He has described the two government orders as “Islamophobic”.
His petition states that the two-stanza version, written before Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s novel Anandamath, is a tribute to the natural landscape and does not invoke any deity or sectarian conflict. It alleges that the later stanzas incorporated in Anandamath invoke Hindu goddesses and are embedded in a narrative directed against Muslims.
Mavoji, who heads the Anupathika Prathinidhya Prakshobha Samithi, has challenged the compulsory singing or playing of all six stanzas as violative of freedom of religion and conscience and contrary to the constitutional values of secularism and fraternity.
He has submitted that he belongs to a Scheduled Caste Hindu community which, according to the plea, rejects Vaishnavite, Saktheya and other sectarian theistic practices. Mavoji contends that such religious elements underpin Anandamath and the later stanzas of Vande Mataram, which he has characterised as a “religious war song”.
His plea also maintains that there was no express constitutional or statutory decision declaring the full six-stanza version as the national song and that the two-stanza version came to be recognised through long-standing practice.
Both petitioners have sought quashing of the January and July orders. Mavoji has additionally sought a declaration that the two-stanza version of Vande Mataram is India’s national song.
Similar issues are already before the court in a petition filed by Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna challenging a 2026 amendment to the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, which makes intentional obstruction of the singing of the national song punishable with imprisonment of up to three years.
When Krishna’s plea was heard earlier, the court had asked the Centre to respond and orally observed that a conscientious objector who does not sing one or all stanzas should not face criminal prosecution.
The petitions will next be heard on November 30.
Pramod kumar is a Senior Journalist, Covering Supreem Court of India
