PIL wants ‘Sindh’ deleted, SC pushes ball to Centre

He said that by 1920, Vande Mataram was possibly the most widely known national song in India.

But, while the song grew in stature, it also became a subject of dispute and ultimately Jana Gana Mana was made the ‘‘National Anthem’’ by the Constituent Assembly on January 24, 1950 and Vande Mataram the National Song.

Post-Independence, Sindh became a part of Pakistan but we continue to recite ‘‘Sindh’’ in our anthem. This is violative of the sovereignty of our neighbouring country and is hurting the feelings of more than 100 crore Indians, the petitioner contended.

Bhatnagar said a new anthem is often adopted due to changes in politics or international relationships. He cited the instance of the erstwhile USSR that adopted Gimn Sovetskogo Soyuza (Hymn of Soviet Union) as its anthem in 1944 after replacing the Communist hymn Internationale that was composed by French workers.

It is surprising that even after 54 years of Independence, none took note of this fallacy. It is the duty of the government to amend it, said Bhatnagar, a speed-skating champion who took part in the Japan Asian Games. He prayed for a direction to the Centre to delete ‘‘Sindh’’ from the anthem or its substitution with a word like ‘‘Kashmir’’.

The bench, however, asked the petitioner to approach the Union government in this regard.