Insult or obstruct the singing of Vande Mataram, India's national song, and you may face up to three years in jail. The provision is at the heart of a bill that the government will introduce in the coming Monsoon session of Parliament. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, once passed, will give Vande Mataram the same legal protection as the national anthem, the tricolour and the Constitution.
The bill will amend the 1971 law, according to which insulting, preventing or causing disturbances during the rendition of the national anthem attracts a prison term of up to three years, a fine, or both. Insulting the national flag and the Constitution carries the same punishment. The new bill now brings the national song under its ambit.
The government's push comes amid its year-long celebrations of the 150th anniversary of the national song. Over the past few months, the government has increasingly sought to appropriate the national song.
Earlier this year in February, the Union Home Ministry, in a direction to states, made playing or singing the national song mandatory at official events where the anthem 'Jana Gana Mana' is played.
Political analysts viewed the BJP's move as a calculated step aimed at the upcoming Bengal assembly elections in May. The song was written by Bengali novelist Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay in 1875. It was first published seven years later in his novel Anandmath. The BJP eventually won the Bengal polls, forming its first government in the state.
Earlier this month, the Home Ministry shot off another letter to the states, asking them to give precedence to Vande Mataram over the national anthem whenever both are performed at official events, according to a report in The Hindu.
"When the national song and the national anthem are sung or played, national song will be sung or played first," the letter to the chief secretaries of states stated.
The letter made it clear that all six stanzas of the national song, around 3.10 minutes long, should be sung. There is a reason why the Home Ministry stressed "all six stanzas".
In 1937, the Congress, led by Jawaharlal Nehru, decided to use only the first two stanzas of Vande Mataram at its gatherings. The reason? Objections from sections of the Muslim community over references to Hindu goddesses in the later stanzas.
The BJP has often raised the issue to attack the Congress.
On Friday, BJP national spokesperson Shehzad Poonawalla castigated the Congress for opposing the bill. "Congress and its ecosystem hate Vande Mataram," he said in a video statement.
Poonawalla alleged that Nehru "divided" the national song into two parts under pressure from the Muslim League. "Congress and many of its leaders refused to sing it even when there were only the first two stanzas," he said.
The subject was at the centre of a bitter spat between the BJP and the Congress during the Winter session of Parliament last year.
During a discussion on the national song, Prime Minister Narendra Modi accused Nehru of "diluting" Vande Mataram's legacy for the sake of appeasement politics. PM Modi emphasised that dropping the stanzas "sowed the seeds of India's division", referring to the 1947 Partition.
Countering PM Modi, Congress president Mallikarjun Kharge said the decision to use only the first couple of stanzas was collectively taken by leaders like Mahatma Gandhi and Rabindranath Tagore.
The issue is bound to raise tensions again when the government tables the Vande Mataram bill during the upcoming Parliament session. The BJP has maintained that the bill is meant to formalise the song's status, and not reopen old political battles. It seems like a stormy session is in store next week.
