A bill providing for punishment for any insult or obstruction to singing of Vande Mataram will be introduced in Lok Sabha in the Parliament’s session starting July 20.
The Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, cleared by the Union Cabinet earlier, comes after guidelines issued by the Home Ministry made playing or singing the national song mandatory at official events where national anthem “Jana Gana Mana” is played.
Bills listed for introduction in the Lok Sabha include one making the delayed registration of birth and death stringent. Once the prevention of insults to national honour bill is cleared by both the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the law will make insulting the national song a punishable offence, bringing it among the other high symbols of the republic, like the national anthem, the national flag and the Constitution, the insult of which attracts criminal action.
The BJP has maintained that past “secular” governments did not accord Vande Mataram, interwoven with the freedom movement, its due place as they relented to objections from a section of Muslims due to the song’s Hindu imagery. There have recently been instances where Vande Mataram was allegedly not given due respect by state governments run by opposition parties or groups representing minority communities.
It would be interesting to see as to how the proposed law describes insult as several matters related to the slighting of Vande Mataram have reached courts.
Amid intense speculation that the government may bring back the bill for delimitation and implementing women’s reservation in the Lok Sabha and assemblies from 2029 after a united opposition stalled it in the last session, a statement from the Lok Sabha secretariat on the bills to be introduced made no mention of it. The bill can be introduced only after the Cabinet’s clearance with government sources saying its timing will be decided once the session begins.
Other bills on the agenda
The Registration of Births and Deaths (Amendment) Bill, cleared by the Cabinet on Tuesday, proposes that births and deaths reported after two years can be registered only on the order of a first-class judicial magistrate, replacing the existing provision under which approval from a DM, SDM or executive magistrate was enough.
The Supreme Court (Number of Judges) Amendment Bill, on the other hand, will stamp the Parliament’s approval to the ordinance which increases the strength of judges in the Supreme Court from 33 to 37. The contentious Foreign Contribution (Regulation) Amendment Bill, which was introduced in the Lok Sabha in the last session and drew sharp criticism from the opposition for its alleged targeting of funding of NGOs, especially those linked to Christian bodies, and the Viksit Bharat Shiksha Adhishthan Bill, which seeks to overhaul higher education regulation and is being scrutinised by a parliamentary panel, are among the other bills to be tabled in the Lok Sabha.
Also read: BJP inches closer to Rajya Sabha majority, six seats short
Follow us
