Plaint against Amitabh over National Anthem

A complaint has been filed with the Delhi Police over Bollywood star Amitabh Bachchan ‘incorrectly singing’ the national anthem.

Bachchan’s rendition of Jana Gana Mana was before the India and Pakistan T20 Cricket World Cup match at Kolkata’s Eden Gardens ground on March 19.

It is alleged that Bachchan took 1 minutes and 10 seconds to sing the anthem against the 52 seconds as per the guidelines set by the Union Home Ministry. “The complaint was received at Ashok Nagar police station in east Delhi on Monday. It has not been converted into FIR,” said a police officer.

Social filmmaker Ullhas PR, a resident of Vasundhara Enclave in east Delhi, filed the complaint. He had earlier filed similar complaints against Bollywood star Aamir Khan and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal.

Ullhas has not sought any FIR, but says that the police must at least inform Bachchan. “So that he sings correct national anthem of India in future,” he stated in the complaint.

Ullhas claims that Bachchan repeatedly sings the ‘wrong’ national anthem. He alleges that the 73-year-old also sings in his own developed style.

Ullhas has quoted Union Home Ministry rules which state that the duration should be approximately 52 seconds. “And there is a particular rhythm and words which cannot be changed at the whims and fancy of an individual,” he adds.  It is also alleged that Bachchan sang ‘Sindhu’ instead of ‘Sindh’ – “in clear violation of a 2005 Supreme Court judgement’. He also used Nayak instead of Dayak.

Ullhas has sent a copy of the complaint to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and the Union Home Ministry.

In February, Ullhas had filed a complaint against Kejriwal over allegations of hurting religious sentiments by posting a cartoon over Jawaharlal Nehru University row on Twitter. The cartoon had Hanuman clad in saffron robes telling Prime Minister Narendra Modi, “Done sir, all attention is on JNU”. Ullhas had not sought FIR, but a clarification by Kejriwal.

In November 2015, Aamir Khan was targeted after he joined the debate over ‘rising intolerance’ in India. Ullhas had also filed a complaint after the release of Khan’s film PK.