New Delhi [India], July 19 : Union Home Minister Amit Shah is set to introduce a Bill in the Rajya Sabha on Monday (20 July) to amend the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, with the proposed legislation seeking to make any obstruction or insult to the national song Vande Mataram a criminal offence.
The Bill is listed for introduction on the first day of the Monsoon Session of Parliament, according to the Rajya Sabha's List of Business.
The Monsoon Session of Parliament beginning on Monday is set to witness the Centre and the Opposition locking horns on several issues. The session, scheduled to stretch till August 13, will also mark the parliamentary debut of the Nationalist Citizens Party of India (NCPI), formed by 20 rebel Trinamool Congress (TMC) MPs who merged their faction and aligned with the National Democratic Alliance (NDA).
BJP Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Seth said, "Vande Mataram is our national song... while the full version was not previously recited, it is now being sung everywhere; we welcome the bill being introduced in this regard."
Earlier in the day, CPI(M) MP John Brittas requested the Centre to withdraw the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which he said extends criminal liability to the prevention of singing of the National Song Vande Mataram.
In a letter to Amit Shah, John Brittas argued that the proposed Bill deviates from the constitutional settlement that has governed the status of the National Anthem and the National Song.
Acknowledging the contribution of Vande Mataram to India's freedom movement, the CPI(M) MP alleged that the Bill risks "unsettling a delicate constitutional balance founded upon pluralism, liberty of conscience and voluntary patriotism."
The Bill, he said, seeks to amend Section 3 of the Prevention of Insults to National Honour Act, 1971, by extending criminal liability to acts of intentionally preventing the singing of, or causing disturbance to any assembly engaged in the singing of, the National Song, Vande Mataram.
"While the profound contribution of Vande Mataram to India's freedom movement is beyond dispute and commands the highest respect from every Indian, the proposed amendment departs from the carefully evolved constitutional settlement that has governed the status of the National Anthem and the National Song since the birth of our Republic. In doing so, it risks unsettling a delicate constitutional balance founded upon pluralism, liberty of conscience and voluntary patriotism," Brittas said.
Arguing against the criminalisation of not singing Vande Mataram, he said that the "Article 19(1)(a) guarantees freedom of speech and expression, which includes the freedom to remain silent except where constitutionally permissible restrictions exist. Article 25 protects freedom of conscience and the right freely to profess, practise and propagate religion, subject only to public order, morality and health. Article 21 protects personal liberty and dignity, while Articles 14 and 29 reinforce the constitutional commitment to equality and India's pluralistic social fabric. The Constitution deliberately refrains from imposing compulsory expressions of patriotism beyond what is expressly required by law."
Additionally, AAP MP Sanjay Singh alleged that the insults to Vande Mataram and the Tricolour have come from the BJP's side only.
"What was their contribution in the freedom struggle? They may engage in theatrics and drama, but they cannot escape their history... Syama Prasad Mukherjee formed a government alongside Jinnah's Muslim League. The Jan Sangh party was funded by Nusli Wadia, Jinnah's grandson. This is the dark truth about them," Singh alleged.