Independence Day 2026: This year’s Independence Day ceremony at the Red Fort is taking a new turn. The defence ministry has sent out invitation cards that carry the full lyrics of Vande Mataram, the national song. Officials said the song will be played for the first time during the flag-hoisting ceremony, and it will be played before the national anthem at the 80th Independence Day celebrations. The cards also include all six stanzas of the song.
Top ministers, military officers, senior bureaucrats, diplomats, students and other special guests who have done well in different fields are invited to the ceremony. The invitation cards this year also show an image of Seva Teerth, the building that houses the Prime Minister’s Office, the National Security Council Secretariat and the Cabinet Secretariat. They also carry a list of fundamental duties. Last year’s cards had the watermark of the Chenab bridge, which was used to show the rise of “Naya Bharat.”
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Why the government is doing this?
The government has been pushing Vande Mataram into a bigger public role this year because the song is marking 150 years. The Centre had already made the singing of all six stanzas mandatory, instead of only the first two stanzas that were usually sung for many years. Parliament also passed the Prevention of Insults to National Honour (Amendment) Bill, 2026, which extends legal protection to the national song and makes it an offence to stop or disturb its singing.
One official explained the reason in very plain words: “People know the national anthem by heart, but few can sing the national song. The lyrics have been provided so that people can sing along,” said one of the officials cited above. That is why the full lyrics were printed on the invitation cards this time.
A wider push for Vande Mataram
The song has already been used in other big national events this year. The 77th Republic Day celebrations were built around the Vande Mataram theme, and ministry and state tableaux were made on the same idea. The Indian Army also marked the 150-year milestone with band performances in 18 places across the country. One of those places was Naihati in West Bengal, the birthplace of Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay, who wrote Vande Mataram in the 1870s.
Last year’s Independence Day also carried a strong defence message. The success of Operation Sindoor was praised at the Red Fort after Indian forces struck terror and military targets in Pakistan and Pakistan-occupied Kashmir. Those strikes came after the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack, which killed 26 people.
