The Karnataka High Court will hear a petition challenging the Government Order by which the State of Karnataka has directed that at all State Government programmes, except those attended by the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister or the Governor, only the first two stanzas of the National Song "Vande Mataram" shall be sung.

The Ministry of Home Affairs on July 09, 2026, circulated to every State "for strict compliance" the Orders relating to the National Song of India, which prescribe the official version of the National Song as the complete composition in six stanzas and provide that "on all occasions, when the National Song is sung, the official version only shall be recited in mass singing."

The Parliament thereafter enacted the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Act, 2026, extending to the National Song the statutory protection given since 1971 to the National Anthem. The Petitioner says that the National Song is not a matter enumerated in List II or List III of the Seventh Schedule; it is within the exclusive competence of Parliament under Entry 97 of List I read with Article 248, and the executive power of the State under Article 162 does not reach it.

The Petition, filed by Advocate Girish Bharadwaj through Advocate Angad Kamath, raises the issue of whether a State Government may, by executive order, prescribe the form and content of a national symbol.

It is averred that the impugned Order is further in breach of Articles 256 and 257(1), which require the State to exercise its executive power to ensure compliance with the laws made by Parliament and so as not to impede the executive power of the Union; it is contrary to the policy of a Parliamentary enactment in an occupied field; and it is an unreasoned order taken without application of mind.

The Petitioner has also filed a representation to the Chief Secretary seeking withdrawal of the impugned order, but no reply has been received.

The plea avers, "The impugned Order does not regulate whether, when or by whom the National Song is sung at State functions; those are matters of ceremonial arrangement within the State's ordinary executive control, and the Union's Orders leave the State latitude in them. The impugned Order does something different. It prescribes what the National Song shall consist of when it is sung: it declares that, at State functions, the National Song is the first two stanzas of the composition and no more. That is a prescription of the content of a national symbol."

It is stated that the Legislature of the State of Karnataka could not enact a law declaring that the National Song consists of two stanzas; therefore, what the State Legislature cannot do by statute, the State Government cannot do by executive order.

"The impugned Order itself acknowledges that a different rule governs. It exempts functions attended by the President, the Vice-President, the Prime Minister and the Governor, at which the official version is evidently to be sung. A rule about the content of the National Song that yields whenever certain constitutional functionaries are present is not a rule the State is competent to make; it is a recognition that another authority's rule governs, coupled with a decision to depart from it in that authority's absence. If the State may define the version of the Song sung at its functions, the exception has no rationale; if it may not, the exception does not cure the excess", it says.

It is also argued that the impugned order is in direct violation of Articles 256 and 257(1) of the Constitution. 

"Each Article extends the executive power of the Union to the giving of directions to a State for that purpose. These are the constitutional terms on which a State exercises executive power. A standing Order that the official version of the National Song shall not be sung at any State function is not a failure to assist the Union; it is an act of State executive power in direct opposition to an act of Union executive power, in a field that belongs to the Union", it submits.

The Plea also argues that the impugned order is contrary to the policy of a Parliamentary enactment in an occupied field. It says that a standing executive direction of the State that the National Song shall be sung in part only, at every State function, is executive action pulling against the policy of a Parliamentary enactment on a subject within Parliament's exclusive domain. 

The Plea submits, "The impugned Order forbids that expression at every State Government function, and forbids it by executive order alone. Citizens who perform at, participate in or attend State functions, including the officers and employees of the State who conduct them, are thereby restrained by executive fiat from singing the official version of the National Song. An executive order is not "law" capable of imposing a restriction under Article 19(2), and the impugned Order is, to that extent, void under Article 13(2)."

The Plea seeks quashing of the impugned government order. It further prays, "Issue a writ of certiorari, or any other appropriate writ, order or direction, quashing the decision of the Council of Ministers of Respondent No. 1 recorded at Item No. 37, Subject No. C.506/2026, of the proceedings of the 19th meeting of the Cabinet held on 03.09.2026 (Annexure-B), insofar as it resolves that only the first two stanzas of the National Song "Vande Mataram" shall be sung at State Government functions"

It also seeks a declaration that the prescription of the form, content and version of the National Song of India is a matter within the exclusive competence of the Union under Entry 97 of List I of the Seventh Schedule read with Article 248 of the Constitution of India.

The Petitioner also sought interim directions seeking a stay of the impugned order.

Previously, the Union Home Ministry issued a set of guidelines on the occasions on which the National Song Vande Mataram is to be played or sung, and its proper observance. The Ministry clarified that the full version of the song is to be played, and whenever the official version is sung or played, the audience shall stand to attention. However, it is not expected of the audience to stand when the Song is played as a part of the film in the course of a newsreel or documentary.

The Supreme Court had refused to entertain a plea against a Home Ministry circular on singing the national song Vande Mataram at official events, saying that a directive was not mandatory.

Cause Title: Sri Girish Bharadwaj v. The State of Karnataka and others

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