‘State song’ and ‘national anthem’ must at all govt functions
Bengal’s newly-appointed Chief Secretary Hari Krishna Dwivedi has come out with one of his first significant orders: The ‘state song’ or ‘rajya sangeet’ should be sung at the beginning of all functions of the state government and the national anthem (‘Jana Gana Mana’) should be sung at the end. During the singings, everyone must stand in respect.
He also announced the first day of the Bengali month of Baisakh, or ‘Poila Baisakh’, falling in the middle of April, will be observed as ‘state day’ or ‘rajya diwas’.
‘Banglar Mati, Banglar Jal’, also by Tagore, like the national anthem, had been chosen as the ‘rajya sangeet’ and ‘Poila Baisakh’ as the ‘rajya diwas’ last year after widespread discussions involving people from all strata of society across the state.
Bills relating to these were passed by the Trinamool-dominated assembly last year, and these announcements are the formal proclamations of those decisions. The main opposition party, BJP had opposed both the bills.
The chief secretary’s directive said that ‘rajya diwas’ and ‘rajya sangeet’ were needed keeping in mind the state’s dignity, culture and traditions.
