Supreme Court Seeks Centre’s Response on Pleas Against Vande Mataram

The Supreme Court on Tuesday sought a response from the Union government on two petitions challenging government orders that imposed the six-stanza version of Vande Mataram.

The petitioners, B.D. Borkar and former IAS officer Balakrishnan Sathyabhama Mavoji, argued that the six-stanza rendition acts as a sectarian prayer that violates religious freedom and promotes communal division.

The bench issued notice on the pleas, which requested the court to quash the orders and restrict the national song to the standalone two-stanza version.