Plea in SC terms six-stanza Vande Mataram a ‘divisive religious war song’, a step towards ‘theocracy’
A petition filed in the Supreme Court of India challenges government orders that mandate the use of the six-stanza version of 'Vande Mataram' as the National Song. The petitioner argues that the full version is a divisive religious song that violates the secular principles of the Indian Constitution.
Why it matters
This case touches upon sensitive debates regarding national identity, secularism, and the role of religious symbolism in Indian public life.
A petition in the Supreme Court has termed the six-stanza Vande Mataram a “divisive religious war song”, and said government orders imposing a “sectarian prayer to particular goddesses of one particular religion as the National Song” violate fundamental rights of religion, attracts the criminal law and, basically, converts the Indian polity from a “secular republic” to a “theocracy”.
The plea filed by B.D. Borkar, a Phule-Ambedkarite and a member of the Scheduled Caste Buddhist community of Maharashtra represented by jurist and advocate Mohan Gopal, said a State compulsion expressed through two successive government orders on January 28 and July 9 would lead to the “unstated but undeniable consequence of irreversibly deepening communal division and conflict in India by outraging the religious and spiritual feelings of minority religions”.
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