01-03-2005, 06:12 PM
<!--QuoteBegin-->QUOTE<!--QuoteEBegin-->â<b>Delete âSindhâ from National Anthemâ</b>
Monday January 3 2005 19:49 IST PTI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court issued notice to the Union Ministries of Home, External Affairs and HRD on a PIL seeking deletion of the word "Sindh" from the National Anthem, it being a part of Pakistan and substituting the same with "Kashmir" or some other word.
A bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti and Justice G.P. Mathur issued the notice despite the Centre in its informal response stating that the word "Sindh" in the National Anthem represented the culture and not the province.
Contesting this statement from the Centre, petitioner Sanjeev Bhatnagar argued that the author of the National Anthem, Rabindranath Tagore, had himself translated his work into Hindi stating therein that the word "Sindh" referred to the province and not the culture.
"Who would be more accurate in translation and interpretation of a particular part of the Anthem than the author himself," the petitioner asked while stating that the National Anthem suffered the fallacy of text.
The Centre, in its response had said that the National Anthem, as it is sung today, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly in the August presence of top national leaders on January 24, 1950 despite all of them being aware of the fact that "Sindh" was part of Pakistan at that time.
Stressing that exclusion of "Sindh" from the National Anthem would hurt the people of Sindhi community whose contribution to the national cause could not be overlooked, the Centre said granting relief to the petitioner would result in demand from other quarters for inclusion and exclusion of words in the National Anthem
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Monday January 3 2005 19:49 IST PTI
NEW DELHI: The Supreme Court issued notice to the Union Ministries of Home, External Affairs and HRD on a PIL seeking deletion of the word "Sindh" from the National Anthem, it being a part of Pakistan and substituting the same with "Kashmir" or some other word.
A bench comprising Chief Justice R.C. Lahoti and Justice G.P. Mathur issued the notice despite the Centre in its informal response stating that the word "Sindh" in the National Anthem represented the culture and not the province.
Contesting this statement from the Centre, petitioner Sanjeev Bhatnagar argued that the author of the National Anthem, Rabindranath Tagore, had himself translated his work into Hindi stating therein that the word "Sindh" referred to the province and not the culture.
"Who would be more accurate in translation and interpretation of a particular part of the Anthem than the author himself," the petitioner asked while stating that the National Anthem suffered the fallacy of text.
The Centre, in its response had said that the National Anthem, as it is sung today, was adopted by the Constituent Assembly in the August presence of top national leaders on January 24, 1950 despite all of them being aware of the fact that "Sindh" was part of Pakistan at that time.
Stressing that exclusion of "Sindh" from the National Anthem would hurt the people of Sindhi community whose contribution to the national cause could not be overlooked, the Centre said granting relief to the petitioner would result in demand from other quarters for inclusion and exclusion of words in the National Anthem
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