India, Feb. 16 -- There is a popular expression in Malayalam: when the bull lifts its tail, one is certain what will follow. It is a rustic metaphor, blunt yet precise, used to describe events whose consequences are entirely predictable. Two months back, when the Central government devoted an entire day in Parliament to commemorating 150 years of Vande Mataram, one did not need the gift of prophecy to foresee what lay ahead.

Predictably, on February 11, the Centre issued a nationwide protocol prescribing how the national song, written by Bankim Chandra Chatterjee, should be sung. At one level, the move may appear innocuous-after all, what harm can there be in honouring a patriotic hymn? Yet, when placed in the larger political context, i...