The Natiional Anthem of India is Partial.

Hi Rajib, It’s a long known open secret that the Delhi govt has all along neglected the NE purposefully as it was their belief that it would act as a buffer against Chinese attack and protect mainland India (read…their precious cow-belt)…no roads and railways were built as it was thought that the advancing Chinese army would give up in the difficult wild terrain! What logic!!! Personally I have visited the NE several years back and believe me when I say that I found it to be the most beautifully natural place…a perfect spot for developing eco-tourism which would have changed that lives of people there. I have been upto Bomdila and Itanagar…we weren’t given permission to visit Manipur. Personally, I feel that the people of extreme NE are more genetically inclined towards the Chinese than mainland India…so if indeed we have to have them with us and ‘protect’ us, the effort must be all the more than for other states. It’s the privilege of all mainland Indians that the people in the NE are continuing with us inspite of abject negligence and marginalization for years. Its only now that the central policy has changed and I hear that a lot of infrastructure projects are coming up. Also in Kolkata, I see a lot more students from NE coming down and staying to study and work…it’s a good sign that they are mingling more with us mainland people. Now regarding the national anthem, I see three songs have come up for debate. I give my opinion on each of them. 1. Sare Jahan se achcha by Md Iqbal. Nice song, very patriotic and popular but in Hindi which is not liked by people down south. Also Iqbal promptly changed his stance and supported the formation of Pakistan and settled down there leaving his ‘Hindustan’ behind. So, NO to this song from me. 2. Vande Mataram by Bankim Chandra Chattopadhyay. Very patriotic and militant and ideal for rousing nationalistic passions but a song describing Bengal in particular and not the other parts of the country. So again NO. 3. Jana Gana Mana by Tagore. What you say about this song being partial is true but as we all know, Tagore did not mean this to be a national anthem, yet he incorporated as much of India as possible, keeping the constraints of poetry in mind. however, what should strike you most is the inherent theme of the song…he does not stick to any particular region as such but exhorts the entire population of the country into deciding their own future, being their own masters, being able to decide their own fate. He was a firm believer in democracy and freedom of the people to choose and this is what he conveys thru this poem. He calls the people themselves as the Bhagyavidhata, as the leader of the nation, as the ultimate decision-makers and hails their victory. This song is an ode to people power and may be this is the reason why it is best suited to be a national anthem. BTW did you know that UNESCO has voted the India National Anthem as the best anthem in the entire world!

hi krajibj, my father said that this anthenm should not be recognised as a national anthem. yes there may be not anything in north east india but we have river BRAHMAPUTRA. it should be marked. so i have no respect to our national anthem. it was written by a person who always neglected ne india as now.

Jana Gana Mana is a poem written by R.N.Tagore before our country got its independence.It is a long poem with 5 stanzas... And it is composed as a song much later on request of some students... And the first stanza is taken by our constitution as our National anthem.This whole poem shows the unity in diversity which is the main characteristic of our country India.. The main essence of the song Vande mataram is something different to that.It is the song of the freedom fighters.. Now one main point my friend, corrupted politics and patriotism and national feelings are two different things...

Hello friend, you are right in your observation but the thing is that "Jana Gana Mana" was not meant to be our National Anthem in the first place. "Vande Mataram" was written as our National Anthem and in fact, it was sung in the Congress Meetings before we got Independence. However, I don't know what made them to change it and hence the controversy. Nice observation.. happy posting!

There ain't no doubt that Tagore was a great human and a thorough patriot; but the Congress was ignorant enough to not notice that. It obviously is not possible to include every single region in an anthem of a few minutes. So including even some of them for a national anthem was an absurd idea. Nehru and co. are completely responsible for this. I hate saying this, but India has been ignorant of its NE since a long time. And the trend exists even today. For example, in my city Pune or any random place, people (especially women)from the extreme NE are referred to as 'Chini', 'Chinki', 'Nepali' or some thing similar and generally communicated with in English at the first correspondence. But it's nice these days that the media has started addressing this issue. Especially the film industry, if I remember well in the movie 'Chak De India' featuring India, this issue was confronted. Nice development! Those people very much as Indians as we are and deserve the same kind of treatment as we do.

Well.. You know that this song is written long ago before the indepencdencoe of india.. But after the indepencdence.. the comittie decided to declare this ravindranath song as the national anthem of India. On THat time.. No other song was better then this.. Now national anthem can not be changed.. You are also a part of India.. and all eastern stated are part as western state.. IF you think that its partial.. then it is.. i can only say.. your thinking is so small..

Hi Rajib Your perception could be correct even though I do not buy it completely. What goes on inside a writer's mind is hard to gaze. we give it form and color and we debate over it. The artist might not have thought anything close to those at all! However, the political adherence to ignore and categorically miss our north eastern states are long apparent. I do feel that the NE part is the most neglected part of India. Hundreds of people die there every day due to various tumultuous situations and get unregistered by the National media! Even today as we speak, some infamously film star gets greater page 1 coverage while the people in NE region undergoing greatest stress due to political, economical and social turmoil!

I want to clarify something. Partial in the sense its meaning and for non mentioning of the states of north east or its essence as National anthem? First of all Noble winner Rabindranath Tagore did not know it will be selected as National anthem.Them do you think its very much easy task to write a song with names of all states of the country? If so can you pls give it a try? I can't say its partial. Nice thought anyway.

Hi...Krajibg A nice subject. As you mentioned the islands like Andaman Nicobar, Lakhdieves and the north eastern parts of India are not reflecting in the Anthem. My guess is that when Tagore writing the anthem, these parts were not populated as nowadays and it is left. Any way I am not favouring to say that the National Anthem is partial. It was a poets imagination and creation. On those days this poetry was most suitable in the available ones and they would have selected that.I dont think this is partial or impartial

Hello. I have been to India twice, and I have heard the national anthem. But, the discussion you are presenting certainly is very interesting. I didn't know the background of the national anthem at all. This discussion is very informative for people of India and also for people of foreign lands. Thank you.

hi well, this song was written by R N Tagore and was sung first time on 27th May 1911. obviously this was written somewhere around this time. assam and other northeast states were not different states at that time. they were all parts of bengal. the norht east states got the status of states after 1947. hence when the song says... bengal.. it covers north east india too. now for rivers... brahmaputra is the life line of Assam and older than the himalayas but the poet could not include all the rivers of the country so he chose to represent northern india throught the rivers that are concidered to be sacred. i don't think there is any bias but the thing is the difference between the then india and present india. it is best suited for being the national anthem because it describes India in the best and the most presice manner.

Technically you are correct, I never observed it so much........but then we don't really know what happened at that point of time, what feelings or what were their views.......and offcourse the national anthem must have been reviewed by a group of people and not only individuals........ But cant really help it, there are so many things which are unjust n our country, we cant really stop it, it has been a part of our culture right since we got our independence.......all we have done is only POLITICS many politicians don't really know that they are elected to serve the people and not themselves......its a pity !!! I don't know whether Nehru was partial or unjust or what exactly, but I would like to know more on this........ Really a great read !!!!

the national team of every country is suppose to be a motivation for every citizen of that country and i wonder why the indian national anthem is so different, every citizen is suppose to sing the national anthem with pride and not with sadness though i don't understand the indian language but i think i understand what you are talking about

Hi friend, I am your neighbor. Just in Nepal. And what I have heard about your country's national anthem it is really partial. If the composer had to mention all the then states he should have but as it was a long poem he never felt or else he would include. This is the political dadas who did it and perhaps knowingly.

Hey, Honestly Iam upset reading your post. I mean there is a national anthem which was made so many years back and what possible good it will do criticizing it. And also you are discussing it in public and thus it will give an indirect message to everyone in the world that Indians are partial and that too in their national anthem. My country is like my own family and I solve family problems internally. We should look to develop our infrastructure, standard of education, dignity of labor, better life style than criticize what was made long back. Cheers, Tutul

Heavens ! You have opened a Pandoras Box.India is such a vast country, that to include all the parts of the country would be impossible. Maybe Tagore just did tic tac toe and picked up the few that came in the game plan. haha. For all its worth, let me proudly tell you that Jana Gana Mana was selected the best national anthem in the world. Rest all is politics. The politicians are known to play dirty games all over the world. Lets not get embroiled in this controversy. Just be proud to be an Indian.

Hello!I am from the Philippines and totally out of place about this discussion, however I am quite intrigue with your discussion that I want to read the full lyrics of India's national anthem.hehe

My opinion is that you should amend this anthem and come up with a lyric that includes the neglected area of the country. You will make history!