Supreme Court to Hear New Petitions Challenging Mandatory Six-Stanza Vande Mataram Law

The Supreme Court on Tuesday set a date to consider new challenges to the law mandating the singing of the full six-stanza version of Vande Mataram. A bench comprising Chief Justice Surya Kant, Justice Joymalya Bagchi and Justice V Mohana issued notices to the Centre and other respondents after petitions were filed by Bhimrao Duryodhan Borkar and former IAS officer Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji. The petitioners argue that Ministry of Home Affairs orders dated Jan 28 and July 9, 2026, unlawfully replace the long-standing two-stanza, non-theistic rendition with a version they describe as containing “explicit anti-Muslim invective” and idolatrous content, seeking to impose a sectarian, theistic character on the nation.

The court recalled its September 22 observation that a “conscientious objector” should not be punished, citing the 1986 Bijoe Emmanuel decision that protected schoolchildren who refused to sing on conscience grounds. Earlier, the bench was hearing Carnatic vocalist T M Krishna’s challenge on similar grounds. The hearing on the new petitions is slated for November 30.