Plea Filed In Karnataka High Court Against MHA Circular On Vande Mataram, Claims It Imposes 'Religiously Loaded' Version On Students

The Karnataka High Court on Thursday (March 26) said that it shall hear next month a plea challenging Ministry of Home Affairs' protocol over singing of all six stanzas of national song 'Vande Mataram' in all schools wherein one of the stanzas allegedly invokes Hindu deities. 

The plea challenges the constitutional validity of the protocol titled 'Orders Relating to the National Song of India', published on the official website of the Ministry of Home Affairs in February. It states that the protocol denotes all six stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' as the official version of the National Song. It further directs that in all schools, the day's work may begin with 'community singing' of the National Song, the plea adds.

Somashekar Rajavamshi, who is also a lawyer, has challenged the official protocol governing the National Song, Vande Mataram, seeking to limit the official version to the first two stanzas, in order to preserve the 'secular fabric of the Constitution'. The petitioner's challenge is limited to Stanzas 3 to 6 of Vande Mataram. In the petition, he assails Stanza 5 of the song in particular, which, according to him, invokes the Hindu deities such as Durga, Vani (Saraswati) and Kamala (Lakshmi).

The Division Bench of Chief Justice Vibhu Bakru and Justice C.M Poonacha has posted the matter to April 9, after Additional Solicitor General Arvind Kamath informed that a similar plea had been rejected by the Supreme Court on Wednesday. Since the apex court order had not been uploaded yet on the Supreme Court website, the court deemed it fit to list the matter on April 9.

The petitioner, as given in his writ petition, does not dispute the status of 'Vande Mataram' as the country's national song so far as stanzas 1 and 2 are concerned.

According to the petitioner, the protocol issued has no statutory backing. The plea states that the protocol wrongly attempts to impose on all the citizens a 'religiously loaded version of the national song', particularly on students in the government schools.

The key reliefs prayed for in the writ petition include a declaration that the official protocol is unconstitutional to the extent it prescribes stanzas 3, 4, 5, and 6 of Vande Mataram as part of the National Song to be sung. The petitioner contends these stanzas violate the Right to Equality, Freedom of Religion, and the prohibition on religious instruction in state-funded institution.

Through a writ of mandamus, the petitioner also seeks a direction to the Ministry of Home Affairs to revise the protocol to include only the first two stanzas, arguing that this conforms to the original vision of the Constituent Assembly adopted on January 24, 1950. The petitioner also seeks instructions to the Ministry of Education, the State of Karnataka, and the Kendriya Vidyalaya Sangathan to make sure that school-singing directives are confined only to the first two stanzas. The students should not be required to sing stanzas 3 to 6, which include specific deity invocations, says the petitioner.

Additionally, the petitioners have sought a direction to the National Commission for Minorities and the National Commission for Protection of Child Rights, to examine and report on how the current singing directives affect children from minority faiths and non-believers in government funded schools.

For context, the Supreme Court had on Wednesday refused to entertain a petition challenging the recent circular issued by the Ministry of Home Affairs regarding the singing of all stanzas of the national song 'Vande Mataram' in official functions and schools, observing that the circular has not made the singing of the song compulsory.

Noting that there is no penal consequence prescribed for not singing the song, the Court observed that the petitioner's apprehensions regarding social discrimination against those who refused to sing it were "vague." The Court dismissed the petition, recording that it was "premature."

A bench comprising Chief Justice of India Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice Vipul Pancholi was hearing a writ petition filed by Muhammed Sayeed Noori challenging the circular issued by the MHA on January 28 regarding the singing of the entire stanzas of Vande Mataram and the subsequent protocol issued for its singing in offices and schools. The circular had stated that all stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' would be sung first when the national song and the national anthem are played together.

Chief Justice of India Surya Kant pointed out that the circular has used the word "may" in relation to the singing of the song in schools. "The word 'may' is used. There are no penal or adverse consequences. Nobody has asked that you do it in your academy," CJI told the petitioner.

Case Title: Somashehar Rajavamshi V. Union Of India And Others

Case No: WP 5925/2026