Singing national anthem an honour: Bengaluru Mayor

Bengaluru Mayor Sampath Raj on Tuesday said it is an honour for him to sing the National Anthem in Bengaluru municipal board meetings.

"After the Supreme Court gave an order that all the movie theatres have to play the national anthem, we also started singing it regularly in BBMP(Bruhat Bengaluru Mahanagara Palike) meetings. It's an honour for us," Raj said.

A fresh row on the singing of national anthem erupted after the Jaipur Mayor Ashok Lahoty made it compulsory for staffers to sing it every morning and national song every evening. The biometric system of attendance will not accept any entries after the morning anthem.

The Bengaluru Mayor stressed if the national anthem can be sung in the movie theatre, then why not in our council meetings.

"After I became the mayor, I thought about starting this tradition and other corporators including the opposition supported me. I was happy about it and I think it will continue further also. We are doing this for the past eight months and today also the national anthem was sung, " the Congress leader said.