Unfortunately, those who run the administration at the Centre now have different ideas, and hence we hear reports of states and people objecting to the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’, the national song in full. The BJP government at the Centre, however, is driven by the divisive ideology of those times; and hence the insistence on singing all six stanzas of the national song. The national flag and national anthem are symbols that enjoy constitutional protection which the national song does not. Insulating the national song as it has been approved by the Constituent Assembly is a legitimate act but stretching that protection to the last stanza is an attempt to present it as equal to the other national symbols. The Union government must respect their decisions instead of devising new rules and decrees to impose its will on them.