Indians in national anthem record attempt By Amarnath Tewary

Patna Published duration 10 December 2012

image caption The event was held at a cricket stadium in the city of Kanpur

More than 100,000 Indians have sung the national anthem together in an attempt to break a world record which is currently held by Pakistan.

Residents of Kanpur city gathered at a stadium to sing the anthem on Sunday.

Guinness World Records have yet to authenticate if a new record was set and say they are waiting for organisers to submit evidence.

In October, Pakistan set the world record when 44,200 people sang the national anthem together in Lahore.

One of the event organisers, Sumit Makhija, said more than 125,000 people eventually turned up to sing the anthem together - each participant wore a wrist band.

A local citizens' group organised road shows and public meetings and visited schools and colleges to generate interest in the event. They also reached out through social networking sites and mobile phones.

"We'd set a target of 100,000 people to break Pakistan's world record but when over 125,000 people gathered we were forced to end the programme soon after the singing of the national anthem to avoid a stampede," he said.