Centre did not insist State song sung last, ASG tells court

The Story in Brief

The Union government has not directed that the Tamil Thai Vazhthu be sung only after the national song Vande Mataram and the national anthem at official events, Additional Solicitor General AR.L. Sundaresan told the Madras High Court on Monday. Appearing before a division bench, the ASG said a public interest litigation challenging a January 2026 MHA notification had become infructuous because the notification was replaced on July 9, 2026.

The ASG clarified that the MHA’s July 9 notification only prescribes the order when the national song and national anthem are sung together, Vande Mataram first, followed by the anthem. It says nothing about the State song. The court gave the government a week to file the new notification. The PIL, filed by Chennai resident Ananya Radhakrishnan through lawyer R. Prabhakaran, had argued that relegating the Tamil Thai Vazhthu to third place diminished its cultural significance, The Hindu reports.