Parliament passes Bill making insult to Vande Mataram a punishable offenceParliament passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, making insults to Vande Mataram a punishable offence. It seeks to make any insult to Vande Mataram a criminal offence. “For Ek Bharat, Shreshtra Bharat, we need complete (all six stanzas) Vande Mataram song,” Rai said, as he concluded his brief reply to the bill with a chant of Vande Mataram. The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, extends these provisions to the national song (Vande Mataram). Sambit Patra of the BJP said the Congress in its 76 years of rule did not give Vande Mataram the respect it deserved as a national song.