A Buddhist activist has moved the Supreme Court challenging the Union Government’s directions prescribing the singing and playing of the complete six-stanza version of Vande Mataram at specified official occasions, contending that the mandate has implications for secularism, religious freedom and constitutional fraternity.
The writ petition has been filed by BD Borkar, a Nagpur-based Buddhist activist, Ambedkarite scholar and civil rights advocate, against the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) orders issued on January 28 and July 9, 2026.
Borkar has questioned the constitutional validity of the executive directions on the ground that the later stanzas of the composition, as incorporated in Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay’s Anandamath, contain religious imagery and references that, according to him, are incompatible with India’s constitutional commitment to secularism.
The petitioner contends that the practice followed since Independence has generally involved the rendition of the first two stanzas as the National Song. He has argued that replacing this established practice with the complete six-stanza composition amounts to a substantive alteration of the National Song through executive directions.
According to the plea, the latter portions of the composition invoke Hindu deities including Durga, Lakshmi and Saraswati. Borkar alleges that, when read in the historical and literary context of Anandamath, these passages contain references to conflict with Muslims. He therefore characterises the complete version as carrying what he describes as “idolatrous and Islamophobic” content.
The petition asserts that compelling citizens to participate in a rendition containing religious invocations would infringe their constitutionally protected freedoms, particularly where they do not subscribe to the religious beliefs embedded in those passages.
Borkar has invoked Articles 19(1)(a), 21, 23(1), 25(1) and 29(2) of the Constitution in challenging the government’s directions. He has argued that the executive cannot compel citizens to engage in what he describes as religious observance under the nomenclature of a National Song.
The plea further contends that the MHA lacks the authority to alter the established constitutional and administrative framework governing the National Song merely through executive orders. It consequently seeks quashing of the January and July 2026 directions as being ultra vires the Constitution.
The petitioner has also challenged the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026, which introduced penal provisions concerning intentional prevention of the singing of Vande Mataram or disruption of an assembly engaged in its singing.
The petition seeks a declaration that no citizen should be compelled to sing or play the National Song and that a person who chooses to abstain should not face criminal, civil or administrative consequences.
The plea comes shortly after the Supreme Court, while hearing a separate challenge by Carnatic vocalist TM Krishna to the legal mandate concerning Vande Mataram, observed that a person who chooses not to sing some or all of its stanzas should not face criminal consequences.
Borkar has accordingly sought directions restraining the Union Government from compelling the rendition of the six-stanza version at governmental, ceremonial, educational or other specified occasions.
He has also sought recognition of the two-stanza standalone version as the National Song for official performance purposes.
The petition has been filed under Article 32 of the Constitution. It is yet to be listed before the Supreme Court. The matter has been filed as Bhimrao Duryodhan Borkar v. Union of India and Another.
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