Swamy urges change in National Anthem

New Delhi: Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Subramanian Swamy wrote a letter to PM Narendra Modi asking to replace the lyrics of the Indian National Anthem with the Indian National Army (INA) song.

Swamy specifically asked Prime Minister to replace the wordings of Jana Gana Mana with Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose's INA song. He explicitly mentioned to only exchange the lyrics of the songs and retain the music of the original version.

The INA anthem expresses Indian sentiments almost on the same lines as the Jana Gana Mana with some changes made where the British Raj is replaced by patriotic Sanskrit words.

The letter asks PM Modi to remember the debate over Jana Gana Mana or Vande Mataram, in the Constituent Assembly and the final opinion, had become quite polarised. This had led the-then President of the constituent Assembly, DR Rajendra Prasad to sense the worries of the house rather than the vote, asserting that the tune of Jana Gana may be accepted, but the future Parliament can reword the anthem if required.

Previously, in 2005, there was a petition filed that requested for the deduction of the word Sindh in the national anthem and include the word Kashmir in it rather. The Supreme Court had replied to the petition saying that the National Anthem is "a hymn or song expressing patriotic sentiments or feelings" and "not a chronicle which defines the territory of the nation."