Ban on ‘Vande Mataram’, 'Jai Hind in RS: Thackeray, Mamata lead pushback

Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray on Friday said his party’s MPs would pointedly chant 'Vande Mataram' in Parliament despite a recent Rajya Sabha advisory cautioning members against using slogans such as 'Vande Mataram' and 'Jai Hind' inside or outside the House.

Daring the BJP to act, he declared, “Our MPs will say ‘Vande Mataram’ loudly. Let’s see who throws us out of Parliament. All Shiv Sena (UBT) MPs will say ‘Vande Mataram’. If the BJP has courage, it should throw out our MPs.”

The 24 November reminder from the Rajya Sabha secretariat — which said such slogans amounted to a breach of parliamentary etiquette — has triggered a broader political backlash, with Opposition leaders accusing the government of policing patriotic expressions long championed by their own ideological forebears.

Thackeray, taking a direct swipe at the ruling party, noted that when the undivided Shiv Sena was aligned with the BJP, the saffron party had insisted that those who want to live in this country must say ‘Vande Mataram’. "Would the person who came out with the latest instruction from the Rajya Sabha secretariat be sent to Pakistan?” he asked mockingly, further wondering whether “‘Macaulay’s progeny’ had infiltrated the BJP.”

On 26 November, West Bengal chief minister Mamata Banerjee also condemned the Rajya Sabha bulletin reiterating that no slogan — “even a ‘Thanks’, ‘Thank you’, ‘Vande Mataram’, or ‘Jai Hind’” — should be raised in the Upper House.

Challenging the logic behind such a ban, she asked, “...Kyun nahi bolenge? Vande Mataram hamara national song hai. Yeh hamara azaadi ka slogan hai. Jai Hind hamara Netaji ka naara hai... Isse jo takraega choor choor ho jaega… (why shouldn’t we say? Vande Mataram is our national song, the slogan of our freedom struggle. Jai Hind was coined by Netaji… whoever clashes with this will shatter into pieces)."

The Congress also joined the attack. On Thursday, party spokesperson Supriya Shrinate said she was “shocked” that the Rajya Sabha secretariat had objected to slogans that were central to India’s fight for independence. “What on earth is the objection to these slogans? The British had a problem with them — and now the BJP does too?” she asked.

Calling 'Jai Hind' “the most powerful slogan of the freedom struggle”, Shrinate said it “beats in the heart of every Indian”, while 'Vande Mataram' is the historic salutation that once drew the ire of colonial rulers. She also questioned why the ruling party sees no violation of decorum when its MPs chant “Modi Modi” inside Parliament.

The controversy comes at a moment when Rajya Sabha procedures themselves have been under scrutiny. During the tenure of Jagdeep Dhankhar before his abrupt resignation in July this year, the Opposition frequently clashed with the Chair, culminating in the unprecedented step of an impeachment notice against the Rajya Sabha chairman.

That notice was later rejected by deputy chairman Harivansh, who called it “bereft of facts” and “severely flawed”, noting procedural lapses such as the absence of an addressee, missing documents, and incorrectly spelt names.

The renewed emphasis on “etiquette” — now including restrictions on patriotic slogans — is therefore being viewed by many Opposition parties as part of a broader pattern of tightening control over parliamentary expression.

Both Thackeray and Banerjee have framed the advisory as an overreach that ironically seeks to curb precisely the slogans that have historically served as unifying patriotic markers. And with the winter session approaching, the government now faces an Opposition determined to continue using expressions that previous generations of parliamentarians — and freedom fighters — saw not as disorderly, but as defining of India’s democratic spirit.

With PTI inputs