The Indian government has proposed making any act that disrespects the country’s national song, Vande Mataram, a criminal offence punishable by up to three years in prison.
India has both a national anthem and a national song. While Jana Gana Mana, composed by Rabindranath Tagore, was adopted as the national anthem in 1950, Vande Mataram, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, was recognised as the “national song”, granting it some formal recognition but without the same legal status.
