Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh on Tuesday said that the term ‘<em>adhinayak</em>’ in the national anthem should be replaced with ‘<em>mangal</em>’.

Jaipur: Rajasthan Governor Kalyan Singh on Tuesday said that the term ‘adhinayak’ in the national anthem should be replaced with ‘mangal’ as it praises “Angreji Shashak” of pre-Independence period.

“Jan-Gan-Man adhinayak jai ho… ‘adhinayak’ for whom? It praises ‘angreji shashak’… British time. It should be amended and replaced by word ‘jan-gan-man mangal gaye’,” he said at the 26th convocation ceremony of the University of Rajasthan.

“I have got full faith and respect for Rabindranath Tagore, but national anthem’s ‘adhinayak’ word should be replaced by ‘mangal’,” he said.

In a similar vein, he said that the term ‘Mahamahim’, or his or her excellency, should be dropped as a prefix for the governor and the word ‘mananiye’ be used in its place since a governor is never “mahan” as used since the British period.

The comments by Singh, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, come days after he compared Maharana Pratap with Mughal Emperor Akbar, saying that the Rajput ruler was “inspirational” to the nation with the suffix “great”.

Reiterating those views on Tuesday, the governor said that the education department should run courses in which Maharana Pratap’s life and his struggle are specifically highlighted.

“Victoria was not great, it was Jhansi ki Rani who had fought wars. Aurangzeb was not great, it should be Shivaji,” he further remarked.

Stressing on the need for rural development, he said, “Real India lives in villages where 2/3 people live. If we ensure development in villages, India will rise, society will rise.”

Singh, meanwhile, approved of the change of dress code for students receiving their degrees, saying that “Rajasthan has changed the black dress code and started white dress code in convocations.”

PTI