Sindhi body at SC door over removal of ‘Sindh’

The Sindhi Council of India today filed an application in Supreme Court opposing a PIL seeking deletion of ‘Sindh’ from the nation...

The Sindhi Council of India today filed an application in Supreme Court opposing a PIL seeking deletion of ‘Sindh’ from the national anthem saying such a move would be a blow to the community.

The application said ‘Sindh’ in the anthem denoted India’s cultural heritage and not any physical territory. Deleting the term would be a body-blow to the seven million-strong Hindu Sindhi’s in India, it said.

Backing the Centre’s stand on retaining ‘Sindh’ in the anthem, the application denounced attempts to link it to the province in Pakistan. ‘‘In Pakistan, Sindhi is not an official language. The official work even in Sindh province after partition in 1947 is carried on in Urdu. The Pakistan government has forced Urdu medium in Sindh schools,’’ it said.

Sindhis were creators of wealth and generate employment, the Council contended and added that majority of Hindu Sindhis migrated to India after Partition. However, it was wrong to say that the migration happened because then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had promised a separate state for Sindhi’s, but admitted that he had helped rehabilitate them.