National Song Replaced With 'Religious War Song' From Anandamath : Ex-IAS Officer's Plea In Supreme Court

A former IAS officer has approached the Supreme Court challenging the Centre's January 28 and July 9, 2026 orders prescribing a six-stanza version of 'Vande Mataram' for singing and playing on specified occasions. He has contended that installing the six-stanza version as the national anthem is an attempt to convert India into a divine sectarian theistic state.

The petition has been filed by a former IAS officer from Kerala, Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste community. He has filed the petition in this representative capacity as Chairman of the Anupathika Prathinidhya Prakshobha Samithi (APPS), arguing that he is an individual who retains his right to choose faith and belief system, and the government can't impose any sectarian and theistic faith by imposing the specific parts where the Hindu Goddess is revered.

The petitioner describes himself as a Hindu belonging to a Scheduled Caste community who does not profess the Vaishnavite or Saktheya religious practices referred to in the six-stanza composition. He argues that compulsory singing of the version amounts to compelling him to pay obeisance to deities and a religious doctrine that he does not accept.

The petitioner argues that the impugned orders effectively replace the two-stanza version of 'Vande Mataram', which has been used as the National Song since Independence, with the six-stanza composition contained in Anandamath. He contends that the latter contains explicit Vaishnavite and Saktheya religious references and that compelling citizens to sing it violates their freedom of conscience and fundamental rights.

The petitioner has stated that the two-stanza version, which is referred to as 'Vande Mataram ', was authored by Bankim Chatterjee and is independent of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel 'Anandamath,' which was written after the two stanzas.

The petitioner has stated that the six-stanza poem is a "religious war song" in which the Hindu combatants offer Vaishnavite and Saktheya prayers to Goddesses Durga, Saraswati and Lakshmi, as well as to the country as Goddess for victory over Muslims. On the other hand, the two-stanza version depicts the beauty of Mother Earth, prayed and sung by Indians for the last 79 years. 

He has argued that imposing a war song will irreversibly "deepen communal division" and conflict in India by outraging the religious and spiritual feelings of minority religion.

 "The unstated but undeniable consequence of the Impugned Orders would be to irreversibly deepen communal division and conflict in India by outraging the religious and spiritual feelings of minority religions; promote enmity and conflict between different communities by advancing the supremacy of dominant communities; and to promote enmity between Hindus and Muslims such that the unity, solidarity, harmony of our country as a whole is irreversibly mutilated. The Impugned Orders are a direct attack against the foundational Constitutional basic structure features of fraternity and secularism." 

He has challenged the two orders as ultra vires on grounds that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs has violated Articles 19(1)(a) &(b), Articles 21, 23(1), 25(1), 28(3), 29(2) of the Constitution.

"'Anandamath' is a novel in which Hindu ascetics wage a holy religious war against Muslims who are violently killed and destroyed as a people. The Hindus eventually seek the support of the British in this holy war. As specifically cited later in this petition, overall, 'Anandamath' is therefore filled with violent and hateful invective against Muslims," the petition states.

National movement leaders opposed adoption of 6-stanza version 

The petitioner referred to the advice sought by the Indian National Congress from Rabindranath Tagore on whether the use of 'Vande Mataram' can depict the national freedom movement. It has been stated that Tagore accepted the first two stanzas as acceptable, but he couldn't sympathise with the sentiments in latter stanzas. 

"Tagore's differentiation between the first two stanzas of the Religious War Song in Anandamath (which were written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee before Anandamath and does not have the religious war intent or worship or idolatry and religious war) and the rest of 'Vande Mataram' (stanzas 3-6 written as part of the religious war which is the theme of Anandamath and contains idolatry) was widely accepted and formally endorsed by the Congress Working Committee in 1937. No objection was raised against the Tagore formula of retaining only the first two non-Anandamath stanzas."

He stated that Tagore's formula distinguishing between the non-Anandamath content and the Anandamath content of 'Vande Mataram' was not questioned in the Constituent Assembly, and no demand is reflected in the records of the Constituent Assembly that the remaining 4 stanzas of the Religious War Song in Anandamath should be played or sung.

2026 Order repeals the official version descriptively 

The petitioner has further pointed out that the practice of playing and singing the two stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' was accepted and practised without demur from 1947 until the issuance of the Impugned Orders in 2026, although in this period no official decision was taken by Parliament or by the Union Government to confer on 'Vande Mataram' the title of National Song.

He has claimed that under the guise of providing directions on the playing and singing of an official version of the song, the impugned orders repealed the existing two-stanza version illegally. 

The petition argues that the impugned orders violate Articles 14, 19(1)(a) and (b), 21, 25(1) and 28(3) of the Constitution, apart from the constitutional principles of secularism and fraternity. 

The petitioner asserts that the freedom of speech and expression includes the right not to speak or sing against one's conscience. He also invokes freedom of conscience and the right to freely profess or decline to practise religion under Article 25(1).

The petition seeks a writ of certiorari quashing the January 28 and July 9 orders.

It also seeks a mandamus restraining the Centre from compelling or mandating the playing or singing of the six-stanza Anandamath version at State, ceremonial, governmental or educational occasions, and from treating refusal or respectful non-participation as an offence or disrespect to the National Song.  

Additionally, the petitioner seeks a declaration that the two-stanza stand-alone version alone should be recognised and performed as the National Song, and that no citizen, institution, school or authority can be compelled to sing or play the National Song or be penalised for abstaining from doing so.

Earlier, while hearing a similar petition filed by Carnatic musician TM Krishna, the Supreme Court had orally said that persons who refrain from singing the song for religious or other reasons should not be penalised.

Previously, a Buddhist Scheduled Caste leader had also approached the Court with a similar plea.

Case : BALAKRISHNAN SATHYABHAMA MAVOJI Vs. UNION OF INDIA AND ANOTHER | Diary No. 62724 / 2026