The Delhi High Court today dismissed a plea seeking a direction to the Centre to declare “Vande Mataram” on par with “Jana Gana Mana”. A bench of Chief Justice D N Patel and Justice C Hari Shankar said it finds no reason to entertain this petition while exercising its powers under Article 226 of the Constitution.
The plea, filed by BJP leader and lawyer Ashwini Kumar Upadhyay, wanted “Vande Mataram”, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, be given the same respect as the national anthem, “Jana Gana Mana” penned by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore.