Kalyan Singh suggests changes in national anthem, Congress terms it 'not an easy task'

New Delhi, July 8: A day after Rajasthan Governor and BJP leader Kalyan Singh suggested replacement of word 'adhinayak' with 'mangal' in the national anthem, opposition Congress on Wednesday said, it isn't an easy task to tinker with the national anthem.

Asserting that the matter was more about unanimity than consensus, Congress leader Abhishek Manu Singhvi told ANI, "Changing or tinkering with the national anthem is not an easy task. It should not be trivialised. I know that in the speech the Governor has talked about creating a consensus, but, it is not a matter of mere consensus, it has to be about unanimity."

While speaking at the 26th convocation ceremony of the University of Rajasthan, the former chief minister of UP, Kalyan Singh, said that the word 'adhinayaka' praises British rule and it should be replaced with 'mangal'.

"Jan-Gan-Man adhinayaka jai hey... 'adhinayaka' for whom? It praises British rule. It should be amended and replaced by word 'jan-gan-man mangal gaye'," Singh said.

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"I have got respect for Rabindranath Tagore, but national anthem's 'adhinayaka' word should be replaced by 'mangal'," he said.

Soon after the poem was composed by Tagore in December, 1911, it had sparked a debate whether it contained praise of the British rule. However, Tagore himself in a letter to Pulin Behari Sen in 1937 rejected the charge.

OneIndia News