Governor of Rajasthan Kalyan Singh, who was a senior BJP leader, has revived a century-old controversy over the word 'adhinayaka' in the national anthem, sparking off a fresh political row over it. Besides the Opposition, Singh came under attack from his Tripura counterpart Thatagata Roy, who is a BJP leader from West Bengal. Singh reportedly said at the convocation ceremony of the University of Rajasthan on Tuesday that "jana gana man adhinayak" was to praise the British rulers and should be replaced with the word "mangal".
"Its been 67 years since independence. Why should our Adhinayak be the British? I don't think it is right to make any change in the national anthem," Roy tweeted on Wednesday.
Singh's opponents also linked his comments with his saffron background as the issue has been raised often by Hindutva proponents. It also comes close on the heels of his comparison between Maharana Pratap and Akbar saying the Rajput ruler was 'inspirational'.
"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," said Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi.
The CPM asked why the governor had raised the issue at this juncture. "Tagore has himself given a rebuttal. Now for a leader who belongs to the hindutva brigade, to raise it when the issue had died down it just shows his lack of knowledge," said CPM polit bureau member Brinda Karat.
In a hard hitting statement, the CPI central secretariat said "BJP governors are often going to press with controversial statements which is against propriety and dignity of governors office. Please restrain your tongue or resign as governor is our advice to Kalyan Singh."
It said the Indian Parliament after considering all aspects adopted the National anthem and added that 'adhinayak' was leader and emperors were never addressed as leaders.
