Jana Gana Songs
Jana Gana Songs Video
Image copyright Getty Images Image caption Tagore was the first Asian to win the Nobel Prize for literature More than a century after it was first sung in the eastern city of Kolkata (formerly Calcutta), the song that later became India's national anthem is again mired in a worn-out controversy. On Tuesday, the governor of Rajasthan state Kalyan Singh, a veteran BJP leader, pulled an old chestnut out of the fire by saying that Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore's Jana Gana Mana, had actually praised the British rulers. He said the phrase adhinayak jai he, which literally translates as 'hail the leader' should be removed and replaced with mangaldayak, which means the 'welfare giver'. His even made it to the front page of a prominent newspaper. He is not alone. Former Supreme Court judge Markandey Katju wrote recently that Jana Gana Mana, which became India's national anthem in 1950, was 'composed and sung as an act of sycophancy' to, the only British king-emperor to travel to India.