SC: Article 51A (a) does not refer to ‘National Song’

Dismissing a petition seeking a clear directive to the concerned authorities to articulate a strong policy to promote the ‘National Song’, the court has held there is nothing called the ‘National Song’ under the article 51A (a) which mandates that the citizens of India should abide by the Indian constitution and pay respect to its institutions and ideals such as the ‘National Flag’ and the ‘National Anthem’.

The prominent verdict regarding the issue has been given by a Supreme Court bench headed by Justice Dipak Misra. Judges R Banumathi and Mohan M Shantanagoudar have been the other members of the bench. The bench, while giving its concluding statement, has made it clear that it is not interested to trigger any debate on this issue. It is identified that the petition seeking the unusual directive was submitted by advocate Ashwini Upadhyay.

The interesting thing is that the petition also requested a directive should be made to make sure that the National Anthem is sung before the commencement of every working day in the public institutions like the government offices, parliament, legislative assemblies, courts and schools.

Earlier, a Supreme Court directive that made it mandatory that the National Anthem should be sung in the theatres across the country invited wide criticism. There were allegations that the central government were trying to inject the nationalism into the Indian population and brand those people who oppose this as the traitors and anti-national elements. Experts say that it is not necessary to infiltrate immense spirits of the nationalism into our population as our citizens already have a clear sense and immense respect over the democratic values awarded by our constitution.

Vignesh

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