Orissa HC directs state govt to consider plea for standardisation of ‘Bande Utkal Janani’

CUTTACK: The Orissa High Court on Thursday directed the state government to consider a representation for the immediate release of the standard version or the official tune of the state anthem ‘Bande Utkal Janani’.

The division bench of Chief Justice S Muralidhar and Justice Gourishankar Satapathy issued the direction on a PIL filed by lawyer Kanhayalal Sharma. But the bench refused to consider Sharma’s petition as a PIL and disposed of it. The court, however, directed the additional chief secretary of Odia Language, Literature and Culture department to take a decision on the representation by May 1 and inform it to the petitioner.

Sharma who claims to be an approved music artist of All India Radio and Doordarshan had filed the petition in the HC after his representations to the state government yielded no result. The legendary song- ‘Bande Utkal Janani’ is an ode to the land of Utkala and its people. While it was written by eminent Odia poet Kantakabi Laxmikanta Mohapatra, the tune and music for the song was composed by legendary classical composer Sangeet Sudhakar Balakrushna Dash.

Written during two protracted movements - the freedom movement of India and the movement for separate Odisha province, the song inspired a whole generation of freedom fighters of Odisha to fight against the British. As per the petition, in 2000 the erstwhile speaker of Odisha Legislative Assembly had ruled that ‘Bande Utkal Janani’ should be adopted as the state anthem and advised the Odisha government to initiate action in this regard.

In 2006, the then-speaker constituted a committee for adopting the song as the state anthem. At the behest of the committee, the first, fourth and last stanzas of the song were selected. The abridged version of the song received the approval of the state government’s Culture department in 2012. On June 7, 2020, the cabinet accorded state anthem status to ‘Bande Utkala Janani’.

“But the state government is yet to release the official standard version or the tune of the state anthem. Without it people have been for long presenting the anthem in various events and the media like television, social media - YouTube, Facebook etc, in various forms and tunes as per their sweet will.  Consequently distorted, and mutilated versions of the state anthem are being sung at various occasions, including government functions and programs”, the petition alleged.