Sonam Kapoor’s article about trolls backfired owing to mistake in which she mentioned that the National Anthem had words ‘Hindu Muslim Sikh Issai’, when in reality this isn’t the case. After incessant trolling on the matter, Sonam took to Twitter to mention that the second paragraph of the anthem penned down by Rabindranath Tagore mentioned these religions. But does it really? Here is a short history lesson about our National Anthem.
What we now know as the National Anthem of India is the first paragraph of the five-stanza Brahmo Sangeet composed by Rabindranath Tagore. The gist of the song was that it was to transcend borders and praise The One who bestows us with life and everything that is righteous, virtuous and illuminating in life.
The anthem was first sung in Calcutta on 28 December 1911. Soon enough, Jana Gana Mana became one of the anthems of freedom struggle. The other song which became synonymous to India’s demand for freedom was Vande Mataram, penned by Bankimchandra Chattopadhyay. Tagore understood the limitations of Jana Gana Mana in terms of language as it was written in classical Sanskritised Bengali language. He spent a large amount of time in 1919 to translate Jana Gana Mana.
So when India got independence, Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana both were being considered for the National Anthem. The Hindi version of Jana Gana Mana became the National Anthem of India and Vande Mataram, the National Song.
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Coming back to Sonam’s statements that the second paragraph of the song penned down by Rabindranath Tagore has ‘Hindu Muslim Sikh Issai’ is factually wrong. First, only the first stanza was adopted as the National Anthem. However, just to argue for argument’s sake, let’s look for the words, “Hindu, Muslim, Sikh, isai” that Sonam claim we have been learning in the National Anthem sinceour childhood.
The second stanza of the song has the words,
Ohoroho Tobo Aahbaano Prachaarito,Shuni Tabo Udaaro Baani
Hindu Bauddho Shikho Jaino,Parashiko Musholmaano Christaani
Purabo Pashchimo Aashey,Tabo Singhaasano Paashey
Premohaaro Hawye Gaanthaa
Also read: This is how Sonam Kapoor reacted after being trolled for getting the national anthem wrong
As one can see, this stanza also doesn’t have the mention of the religions as Sonam Kapoor put.
However, to put it clearly, we in no way are slamming Sonam for her comments. The way she slammed trolls for and the way she stood up for herself is applaud-worthy. In this era of social media, it is really easy to slam someone for their opinions and Sonam couldn’t be more right when she said that trolls should get more intelligent. We really hope to we see more sane voices like hers from Bollywood speak up on issues that matter.
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