India's Communist Party of India (Marxist) has formally objected to a proposed law that would make insulting Vande Mataram — India's national song, distinct from its national anthem — a criminal offence. Rajya Sabha MP John Brittas filed a procedural notice arguing the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026 is unconstitutional, noting that India's founding Constituent Assembly deliberately chose not to grant the national song the same legal standing as the national anthem, and that existing law confines such penal protection to the anthem alone. Brittas warned the bill would infringe on fundamental rights including freedom of speech, conscience, and religion, citing a Supreme Court precedent that previously protected individuals who declined to sing the anthem on religious grounds.