Congress MP Ripun Bora
Congress MP Ripun Bora on Friday moved a private member’s resolution in Rajya Sabha, seeking amendment of the National Anthem and replacing the word ‘Sindh’ with ‘Northeast India’. In the letter, he suggested, “The National Anthem of India ‘Jana Gana Mana’ mentions Sindh which is no longer part of India; the NorthEast India, which is a very important part of India, finds no mention in the National Anthem, the then President of India, Dr. Rajendra Prasad, had made a statement in the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950 that the composition consisting of the words and music known as the Jana Gana Mana is the National Anthem of India, subject to such alterations in the words such as Government may authorise as occasion arises.”
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“North East is important part of India, it is unfortunate that it is not part of national anthem on other hand Sindh is mentioned, which is no longer part of India but part of Pakistan, which is a hostile country,” Bora told ANI.
‘Jana Gana Mana’ was composed in Bengali by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore in 1911, when the Indian territory stretched from Balochistan in the west to Sylhet in the east. It was adopted in its Hindi version by the Constituent Assembly as the National Anthem of India on 24 January 1950.
The country was, however, divided after India got independence in 1947 with Sindh, Balochistan, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and parts of Punjab being ceded to West Pakistan; and Sylhet, Dhaka and other parts of Bengal being ceded to East Pakistan — which later became Bangladesh in 1971.