Rajya Sabha passes Bill to penalise insult of Vande MataramThe Rajya Sabha passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, making deliberate insult of Vande Mataram a punishable offence. Opposition members created a din during the discussion and later walked out of the House in protest. The present amendment aims to extend the same protection to “Vande Mataram”. He recalled that freedom fighters, including Chandrashekhar Azad, Ram Prasad Bismil, Ashfaqulla Khan and Khudiram Bose, had chanted Vande Mataram in their final moments. Rai linked the Bill to Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s vision of ‘Ek Bharat, Shreshtha Bharat’ and said the complete Vande Mataram was essential for national unity.