The legislation grants Vande Mataram the same status as the national anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’. For the first time at the Independence Day function, Vande Mataram will be sung from the ramparts of the Red Fort, the Union Home Ministry said. “Presently, there is no specific legal provision to prevent insults to the singing of ‘Vande Mataram’, which is honoured as the national song. “When the national song and the national anthem are sung or played, the national song will be sung or played first,” the order read. The assembly where the national song is sung shall stand in attention, it said.