Subramanian Swamy writes to PM Modi to alter ‘inappropriate words’ in National Anthem

Dec. 2: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy has requested Prime Minister Narendra Modi to make some changes in the National Anthem. In a letter written to the Prime Minister, Swamy, one of the top lawyers in the country urging him to propose to Parliament that as committed we retain the Jana Gan Mana tune, but replace the wording of the anthem with what Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose had incorporated in the Indian National Army (INA) anthem/song.

It is widely believed that the Jana Gana Mana sung by the Indian National Army, known as ‘Shubh Sukh Chain’, was an adaption of Bharoto Bhagyo Bidhaata written by Rabindra Nath Tagore. The song was translated by Subhash Chandra Bose himself while the music was composed by Captain Ram Singh. The anthem proposed of Netaji was more or less same with few changes where references to the British King was replaced by patriotic Sanskrit words.

My letter to PM Modi on Jana Gana Mana pic.twitter.com/qc1KnLDb2g

— Subramanian Swamy (@Swamy39) December 1, 2020

Swamy pointed out that the President of the Constituent Assembly, Dr Rajender Prasad, in his concluding remarks on November 26, 1949, had said that the words in ‘Jana Gana Mana’ may be amended or replaced in the future with other ‘appropriate words’. Swamy in his letter to PM Modi said , “As you may know, which should be our national anthem, Jana Gana Mana or Vande Mataram, was debated thoroughly in the Constituent Assembly and the opinion had become quite polarised.

Jana Gana Mana, penned down by Rabindra Nath Tagore, was first publicly sung on December 27, 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. A large number of members of the Constituent Assembly had expressed in the debate the fact that the song was as originally worded in the Kolkata session of the Congress to welcome the British King. The BJP MP has claimed that words used in the National Anthem penned by Rabindra Nath Tagore raise ‘unnecessary doubts’ about to whom the poem is addressed.