Let us regain our national anthem from those who are twisting it, says TM Krishna

A fierce critic of Modi government, iconic Carnatic classical musician, writer and social activist TM Krishna appealed to people to regain and recapture the National Anthem from those who are twisting it.

Krishna, who presented a special musical tribute on the occasion of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose’s birthday in Kolkata on Thursday said words “Jana Gana Mana” have to be “regained and recaptured from those who are twisting” them. On the occasion, he sang some of the unsung verses of the national anthem. He said he sang those verses because he wanted to know the importance of the national anthem.

“I have never considered myself to be a great patriot or nationalist. But now I have changed my position. We have to regain those words, recapture those words from those people who are twisting them. I was not a person who sang the national anthem regularly. That’s a truth,” said Krishna.

“Then I said: I want to know what this song is. There are three words: Jana Gana Mana. Jana is singular, Gana is the plural, Mana is the heart of the singular and plural, of the people,” he added.

Krishna, who has been strongly criticising and opposing the Citizenship (Amendment) Act and the National Register of Citizens, added: “So the country is not the land, the country is the single person: you as an individual and we as a collective. That’s what Tagore has told us.”

“One of the reasons (why he sang the unsung verses of the national anthem) is that it’s important to say that it is the land of multiple religions, multiple people. It’s important to say that this is the land of the Northeast too…. So, this is the time. These are verses we have to sing again; we have to reclaim,” said the musician.

Sharing his personal experience, Krishna said he would never go to a theatre on time so he wouldn’t have to stand up for the national anthem “because it was being imposed” on us.

In his performance, TM Krishna sang in four different languages- Tamil, Bengali, Malayalam and Telugu. Irrespective of the language he sang in, his performance was met with thundering applause by the audience.