National Anthem

An insulting and parochial petition

The news published in the Metro Digest in The Times of India dated Wednesday, August 10,2011,

page 13, is deeply shocking and stinks of communal bias and hatred. It reads:

Petition to replace Sindh with Sindhu

An insensitive man seeking cheap publicity has moved the HC challenging the use of the word Sindh in the national anthem

and has urged the court to replace it with the word Sindhu. The man calling himself a professor has hurt the sentiments of millions of Sindhis in India and abroad.

Sindhis, as a patriotic community, have worked hard and single-mindedly and have established themselves as an industrious and magnanimous community,

contributing to the economic growth of the region where they have settled after partition.

The so-called professor has obviously not read the Supreme Court judgement, dated 13^th May 2005.

The Supreme Court had said in its historic judgement that the word

Sindh, in our national anthem, is not about a geographical territory, but about a people with an ancient, five thousand year old civilization of the" Mooan-Jo- Daro."

Sindh is about a people, a great culture, a language and music that has made Indians proud. Who hasn't heard the Sindhi song," Lal munhinji pat rakhiyo sadaa,Jhulelaalan, Damaadam mast qalandar, " and “ Munhinjo khati aayo khhair saan, Hojamaalo”?

The honourable Supreme Court had said in its judgement:

“The National Anthem is our patriotic salutation to our motherland, nestling between the Himalayas and the oceans and the seas surrounding her. The mention of a few names therein is symbolic of our recollection of the glorious heritage of India.

'Sindh' is not just a geographical region. It refers to the place and to its people. Sindhis are spread throughout the country and they derive their such name as having originated and migrated from Sindh. 'Sindh' also refers to the river 'Sindhu'

or 'Indus'. It also refers to a culture, one of the oldest in the world and even modern India feels proud of it having inherited the Indus Valley Civilisation as an inalienable part of its heritage. River Indus (Sindhu) finds numerous references in the Indian Classical Literature including Rig Veda.

The National Anthem is the poem as it was written by Rabindranath Tagore. He himself had said that the five stanzas in which the poem was written is addressed to God. The poem is a reflection of the real India as a country ___ a confluence of many religions, races, communities and geographical entities. It is a message of unity in diversity. It is a patriotic song. It has, since the decades, inspired many by arousing their patriotic sentiments when sung in rhythm. It is the representative of the ethos of the country. Any classic, once created becomes immortal and inalienable; even its creator may not feel like making any change in it. Any tampering with the script of the poem would be showing disrespect to the great poet ___ Rabindranath Tagore.”

The honourable Supreme Court further said in its august judgement dated 13^th May 2005:

“We are satisfied that the petitioner is not entitled to the relief prayed for. The petition is wholly devoid of any merit. The petition is not in public interest. It is a petition which should never have been filed. It is more of the publicity interest litigation wherein the petitioner seems to have achieved his purpose. To discourage the filing of such like petitions which result only in wasting the valuable time of this Court, we direct the petition to be dismissed with costs quantified at Rs.10,000/-“

We have immense faith in our judiciary and in our government and are sure that such a frivolous and hurtful petition will be dismissed with costs for wasting precious time of the honourable court as well as inflicting enormous pain on the patriotic and progressive Sindhi community.

SUSHEEL GAJWANI

FILMMAKER,TELEVISION PRODUCER,RADIO SHOW HOST

MUMBAI