Pakistan army, BJP MLA in war of words over song for forces

HYDERABAD: The Pakistan army claimed on Sunday that the song recorded for the Indian armed forces by the lone BJP MLA from Telangana, Thakur Raja Singh, was a copy of its own anthem for Pakistan Day, and that while it was nice to be copied, those who had released the song should tell the truth about its origin.

The MLA denied plagiarising the song. “My new song which will be released on 14th April at 11:45 AM on the occasion of #SriRamNavami is dedicated to our #IndianArmy forces,” Singh had tweeted. He had released a promotional video of the song on Saturday and that had gone viral.

Soon the Pakistan army claimed that the composition “Dil ki himmat watan, apna zasba watan” had been plagiarised from a song written by Sahir Ali Bagga and released by its media wing on March 23. It said the phrase “Pakistan Zindabad” in the lyrics had been replaced with “Hindustan Zindabad”.

Asif Ghafoor, the director-general of Inter-Services public relations, Pakistan, retweeted Singh’s song with the comment. “Glad that you copied. But copy to speak the truth as well. #PakistanZindabad.” While the local BJP distanced itself from Singh’s latest release, Raja Singh told TOI he had no idea that the song was originally from Pakistan. “I didn’t even hear that song. How will I know what those guys had composed? Maybe they copied my song as we compose song months before Ram Navami every year,” he said.

Singh personally records songs every year ahead of the “Sri Rama Navami Shobayatra” and these are played during the massive procession in Hyderabad’s Old City.