The Supreme Court today issued notice on two petitions challenging the Union Government's January 28 and July 9, 2026 orders prescribing a six-stanza version of 'Vande Mataram' for singing and playing on specified occasions.

One petition has been filed by BD Borkar, a Scheduled Caste Buddhist, Ambedkarite activist and former National President of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation (BAMCEF).

The other petition is filed by a former IAS officer from Kerala, Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji, who belongs to the Scheduled Caste community.

As soon as the matters were taken, the bench of CJI Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana issued notice to the Centre. Dr G Mohan Gopal appeared for the petitioners.

The petitioners contend that the imposition of the six-stanza version of the song violates secularism and fraternity, the petitioner states :

"By imposing sectarian prayer to particular Goddesses of one particular religion as the National Song of India, the Impugned Orders convert the character of the polity of India from a 'secular republic' to a 'theocracy'," Borkar stated in the petition.

According to him, such an imposition will "irreversibly deepen communal division and conflict in India by outraging the religious and spiritual feelings of minority religions including the religion of the petitioner (Buddhism);" The move, it is contended, makes a "a mockery of the foundational Constitutional basic structure features of fraternity and secularism."

National Song replaced with 'religious war cry' from Anandamath

The petitioners contend that the Centre has effectively replaced the two-stanza version of 'Vande Mataram', which has traditionally been sung at national functions since Independence, with the six-stanza composition appearing in Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Anandamath.

The petitioners argue that the two-stanza version, which predates the novel Anandamath, is distinct from the six-stanza composition incorporated into the novel in 1881. According to the petition, the original two stanzas describe the natural beauty of the motherland, whereas the additional four stanzas invoke Hindu goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati.

According to them, Anandamath is a novel "filled with violent and hateful invective against Muslims", and the six-stanza version of the song is used in the context of a war cry. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore had objected to the adoption of all six stanzas, and the first two stanzas were accepted as a formula put forth by Tagore.

The petition cites a 1937 resolution of the Congress Working Committee, which recommended that only the first two stanzas of 'Vande Mataram' be sung at national gatherings. This position was followed during the freedom movement and continued after Independence.

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.

MHA doesn't have the authority to impose 6 stanzas : Petitioner

A central argument in the petition is that the Union Ministry of Home Affairs does not have the statutory or constitutional authority to change the content of the National Song through executive orders.

The petitioner contends that the January and July 2026 orders effectively alter the version of the song followed since Independence without identifying any legal source of power authorising such a change.

The July 9 order, according to the petition, also provides for the playing or singing of the National Song on a wider range of occasions, including in schools, and stipulates that when the National Song and National Anthem are played or sung together, the National Song must be played first.

Fundamental rights violations alleged

The petition contends that compelling citizens to sing or participate in the six-stanza version would violate their freedom of conscience and religion under Article 25(1), freedom of speech and expression under Article 19(1)(a), and right to life and dignity under Article 21.

It argues that the right to freedom of speech and expression includes the right to remain silent and not to sing something against one's conscience.

Relying on the Supreme Court's decision in Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala, the petitioner submits that a person who refrains from singing a national song or anthem cannot automatically be treated as showing disrespect to it.

The petition also invokes Article 28(3), contending that citizens cannot be compelled to participate in religious worship against their conscience.

It further alleges violations of Articles 14 and 15, arguing that prescribing a composition containing religious invocations as the National Song would place citizens who do not subscribe to that faith at a disadvantage.

The petitioner has sought quashing of the Ministry of Home Affairs orders dated January 28 and July 9, 2026, and a direction restraining the Centre from compelling or mandating the singing or playing of the six-stanza version of 'Vande Mataram' at governmental, ceremonial, educational or other specified occasions. The petitioner has also sought a declaration that the two-stanza standalone version alone should be recognised and performed as the National Song, and that no citizen can be compelled to sing or play the National Song or face any penal, civil or administrative consequences for abstaining from doing so.

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.

The petitions have been drawn by Dr. G Mohan Gopal, Adv; Vaibhav Choudhary, AOR; Mayank Singh Rawat, Adv; Zaid Ahmed, Adv