The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought the Union government’s response to two petitions challenging government orders that allegedly impose the six-stanza version of Vande Mataram on citizens.
A Bench headed by Chief Justice of India Surya Kant issued notice to the Centre on petitions filed by B.D. Borkar, described as a Phule-Ambedkarite, and former IAS officer Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji. The petitioners have described the six-stanza version as a “divisive religious war song” and a move towards theocracy.
Represented by jurist and advocate Mohan Gopal, the petitions challenge two successive government orders issued on January 28 and July 9. They argue that compelling the song would deepen communal division by offending the religious and spiritual beliefs of minority communities.
Borkar’s plea contends that the six-stanza version, introduced by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee in his novel Anandamath, promotes enmity between communities by advancing the supremacy of a dominant community. It seeks the quashing of both orders and an end to any compulsion, particularly for schoolchildren, to sing or play the six stanzas.
The petitions distinguish this version from what they describe as a standalone two-stanza song written by Chatterjee in the early 1870s. They state that governments and public institutions had used this “non-Anandamath” version from Independence until the 2026 orders, and seek a direction that only the two-stanza version be recognised, performed and sung as the National Song.
On September 2, while hearing a separate petition by author and Carnatic vocalist T.M. Krishna, the court had orally observed that a democratically elected government could decide the length of the National Song but could not compel conscientious objectors to sing or play it under threat of penal action. The court had referred to its 1986 ruling in Bijoe Emmanuel versus State of Kerala, which upheld religious freedom, constitutional tolerance and silent objection.
