Rajasthan governor and the former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, Kalyan Singh, has demanded the removal of ‘adhinayak’ from the national anthem arguing that Rabindranath Tagore had written it to praise the British rulers, reports Indian Express.
Addressing a gathering at the convocation ceremony in Jaipur, Singh said that it was about time it got amended to ‘mangal.’
He said, “Jan gan man adhinayak jai ho kiske liye hai? It is to praise the ‘angrezi shaasak’…the British. It is about time that it amended and replaced by ‘jan gan man mangal gaye’. I do have full faith in Rabindranath Tagore and respect him but still feel the national anthem should drop the word adhinayak.”
Singh also added that the word like mahamahim or his excellency should also be done away with “because no one is ‘mahan’. These were used during the British rule.”
Singh’s predecessor, Margret Alva, too had talked about the need to stop using the term such as his excellency.
