FORMER BUREAUCRAT and founding member of the All India Backward and Minority Communities Employees Federation, Bhimrao Duryodhan Borkar, has approached the Supreme Court challenging two orders issued by the Union Home Ministry (MHA) on January 28, 2026 and July 9, 2026, which Borkar describes as imposing a divisive religious war song as the National Song of India, referring to the six-stanza civil war song of Anandamath with its unconstitutional idolatrous and Islamophobic content.
The petition asserts that by imposing a sectarian prayer to particular goddesses of one particular religion as the National Song of India, the MHA order converts the character of the polity of India from a ‘secular republic’ to a ‘theocracy’.
It states that for 79 years from independence until the issuance of the Orders in 2026 by the MHA, the Union and State Governments, as well as other institutions and groups, had peaceably played and sung a two-stanza song referred to as ‘Vande Mataram’, authored by Bankim Chatterjee in the early 1870s.
“This non-theistic song lauds the natural beauty of mother earth describing the nation as a landscape and pays tribute to a non-deified motherland. The song was treated in this period as the National Song of India even though it had not ever been officially declared as the National Song by the Union Government or by Parliament. This two-stanza song is independent of Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s famous novel Anandamath which was written after the 2-stanza song ‘Vande Mataram’”, the petitioner submits.
It states that the novel “Anandamath” was written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee after he had composed the two-stanza stand-alone version of ‘Vande Mataram’. It was first published in 1881. Anandamath presents an idea of India entirely different from that found in the two-stanza standalone song ‘Vande Mataram’, in which Bankim Chandra Chatterjee presents India as mother earth.
It adds that the centrepiece of Anandamath is a six-stanza war song in which the Hindu combatants pray to Goddesses Durga, Saraswati and Lakshmi, as well as the country as a goddess, for victory over Muslims.
“The song occurs in bits and parts multiple times in the novel. The theme of this War Song is the oft-repeated war cry ‘Vande Mataram’ which is frequently on the lips of those battling Muslims, invoking the power of Goddesses Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati and the country as mother Goddess”, the petition states.
It further argues that the text of the two-stanza stand-alone paean to the beauty of mother earth, played and sung by Indians for the last 79 years, is included by Bankim Chandra in the Anandamath war song.
“The author adds four fresh stanzas (stanzas 3 to 6) after borrowing the text of the two stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’. The plot and text of Anandamath totally changes the entire character of the imported two-stanzas of ‘Vande Mataram’ from being a paean to mother earth to a prayer to mother Goddess as a theistic nation”, the petition reads.
In Stanza 3 of this six-stanza poem, the combatant Hindu ascetics sing, “To thee I call, Mother and Lord! Thou who savest, arise and save! To her I cry who ever her foemen drove Back from plain and sea ..And shook herself free.” References in this stanza to “foemen” who the Goddess drove back from plain and sea and from whom she shook herself free are a reference to Indian Muslims, who are identified as foes in Anandamath.
In Stanza 4, the Hindus seek inspiration and blessings from the mother Goddess to wage war against Muslims, saying, “Every image made divine in our temples is but thine”. The Hindu ascetics say to the Goddesses, “Thou art wisdom, thou art law, Thou our heart, our soul, our breath, Thou the love divine, the awe. In our hearts that conquers death. Thine the strength that nerves the arm, Thine the beauty, thine the charm.”
In Stanza 5, the combatant Hindu ascetics submit to the Goddesses, saying, “Thou art Durga…With her hands that strike and her swords of sheen; Thou art Lakshmi lotus-throned, and the Muse a hundred-toned [Saraswati]. Pure and perfect without peer, Mother, lend thine ear.”
In contrast, the petition states, in the stand-alone two-stanza poem, the phrase ‘Vande Mataram’ (“I salute thee, mother”) is a paean to the beauty of the landscape addressed to mother earth; once the two stanzas are brought into Anandamath, the meaning of ‘matram’ is totally altered and locked in by the “master-key” of Bankim Chandra Chatterji and the plot of the novel.
Referring to the historical background, the petition states that, to resolve the quite intense conflict over whether to use ‘Vande Mataram’ in the national struggle, the Indian National Congress took up the issue and sought the advice of Rabindranath Tagore.
“Prof. Bhattacharya K writes, “Rabindranath Tagore’s advice was threefold. While the first two stanzas were entirely acceptable to Rabindranath, he could not sympathize with the sentiments in latter stanzas. In a letter to Nehru, Tagore wrote, “I find no difficulty in dissociating [the first two stanzas] from the rest of the poem and from those portions of the book of which it is a part…” , the petition reads.
“Tagore’s differentiation between the first two stanzas of the war song in Anandamath (which were written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee before Anandamath and does not have the religious war intent in it or worship or idolatry) 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”, the petition states.
It argues 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 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.
On law, the petitioner argues that the Union Government has no power to change the 2-stanza Vande Mataram. It argues that the orders issued by the MHA do not provide or identify any legal basis or source of power on which this assertion is made.
It contends that the public record does not show that the Union of India ever made a decision that ‘Vande Mataram’ shall be the National Song of India, or created a legal basis for the MHA to decide on the National Song and direct the entire country to follow it.
It further argues that the government does not have any authority to remove the 2-stanza stand-alone work called ‘Vande Mataram’ from being India’s National Song, a status endorsed by the Constituent Assembly and by consistent State practice since independence.
“A decision of the Constituent Assembly cannot be over-turned by an administrative order of a ministry of the Government. The three lists in the Seventh Schedule do not include any entry with regard to deciding on the National Song”, the petition argues.
It contends that the administrative orders issued by the MHA seek to overturn and undo the January 24, 1950 decision of the Constituent Assembly by changing the content of the National Song from the stand-alone 2-stanza patriotic song praising India as mother earth to an entirely distinct six-stanza poem worshipping India as a Goddess.
“An administrative order cannot overturn a decision of the Constituent Assembly exercising Constituent power. An overturning of the decision of the Constituent Assembly will require approval by Parliament. There is no entry under Lists I and III of the Seventh Schedule that vests in Parliament or the Union Executive the power to legislate on the National Song. The change that is sought may therefore only be made by Parliament exercising constituent power. This may require suitable amendment of the Constitution as needed.”, the petition states.
It asserts that the 2-stanza stand-alone work called ‘Vande Mataram’ has acquired binding legal status as the National Song through continuous and uninterrupted State practice since independence.
The petition further argues that, given their content and context, any person who sings the “official version” of the National Song as set out in the MHA orders will be liable to be prosecuted under the Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita, 2023 (BNS), which criminalises “Acts endangering sovereignty, unity and integrity of India” (Section 152); “Promoting enmity between different groups on grounds of religion, race, place of birth, residence, language, etc., and doing acts prejudicial to maintenance of harmony” (Section 196); “Imputations, assertions prejudicial to national integration” (Section 197); “Deliberate and malicious acts, intended to outrage religious feelings of any class by insulting its religion or religious beliefs” (Section 299); “Uttering words, etc., with deliberate intent to wound religious feelings of any person” (Section 302); and “Statements conducing to public mischief” (Section 353).
It further argues that any imposition of a national song which is based on the faith of any religion will in effect be tantamount to the enthroning of a state religion in violation of the principle of secularism.
“Under the Constitution the State has no power even through a Constitutional amendment or a statute to make a religious song a national song. As a result, the Impugned Order should be quashed as violative of the Constitutional basic feature of secularism”, the petition states.
The petition also argues that the Preamble to the Constitution declares liberty of thought, expression, belief, faith and worship as a core goal. A sure way of destroying fraternity and fragmenting society is to have one section impose its belief, faith and worship on others who do not subscribe to the same faith, regardless of whether they are allowed not to join in the singing. It is thus clear that the violation of the principle of fraternity is also, at one and the same time, a violation of the values of liberty and equality.
“A national song in a nation built on fraternity should be the song of all its people, a song which every section will from the depth of their heart consider their own. Jana Gana Mana, our national anthem is one such song. The imposition of the Anandamath song as our National Song removes the petitioner from groups of Indians that come together to sing the National Song.” the petition states.
The petition also argues that compelling any person to play or sing the six-stanza official version of the National Song violates Articles 14, 15, 19(1)(a), 21 and 25 of the Constitution.
Last month, the Supreme Court issued notice on a petition filed by vocalist T. M. Krishna challenging the mandatory singing of Vande Mataram and the making of it an offence not to sing it.
