Pune: Maharashtra Director General of Police’s (DGP) office has issued instructions to all police units to play the correct version of national anthem and avoid playing Vande Mataram during visits of the President of India. Directions were issued following these instructions from the President’s secretariat.
On December 13, 2015, there was a goof up at a function to celebrate the first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru’s 125th birth anniversary in Kolkata, attended by the then President Pranab Mukherjee. The programme began with a vocal rendition of ‘Vande Mataram’ instead of customary playing of the national anthem by a military or police band.
Later, the president, in his speech, did not point out the mistake but reminded the audience that India’s National Anthem will be the first stanza of Rabindranath Tagore’s poem ‘Jana Gana Mana’, which will be played by a military band.
The organisers, the Bidhan Memorial Trust and Jawaharlal Nehru 125th Birth Anniversary Committee, later apologised for the faux pas.
In December last year, the deputy military secretary of the President wrote to all state and Union Territory governments and asked them to issue necessary orders for playing the correct version of the National Anthem during the President’s visit.
“There had been some mistakes while playing the National Anthem. Therefore, be careful and follow the guidelines about the anthem during the President’s visit to the state,” said Inspector General of Police (administration) Anup Kumar Singh from the DGP office, in his letter to the police units.
Dos and Dont’s
- Play the correct version of National Anthem.
- Whenever the anthem is being sung or played, maintain the protocol.
- Even after repeated reminders, the correct version of the anthem is not being played during the President’s visit to states, instead, Vande Mataram is played, which should be avoided.
- National anthem must be played for 52 seconds only.
- Don’t use a faulty CD/audio system for playing the anthem.
