Supreme Court issues notice to the Centre on petitions against the six-stanza Vande Mataram orders

27 October 2026

A Supreme Court bench of Chief Justice of India Surya Kant and Justices Joymalya Bagchi and V. Mohana issued notice to the Centre on two petitions challenging Union Government orders that prescribe a six-stanza version of Vande Mataram for singing and playing on specified occasions. The petitioners, B. D. Borkar and Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji, argue that the Ministry of Home Affairs has no statutory or constitutional authority to change the National Song by executive order, and that the orders replace the traditional two-stanza version with the six-stanza version from Bankim Chandra Chatterjee's novel Anandamath. They invoke Article 19(1)(a), Article 21, Article 25(1), Article 28(3) and Articles 14 and 15, and rely on Bijoe Emmanuel v. State of Kerala. Senior counsel G. Mohan Gopal appeared for the petitioners. The petitions ask that no citizen face penal, civil or administrative consequences for not singing or playing it.