Over 3.5 lakh people sing anthem, set new world record

Over 3.5 lakh people today set a new world record by singing the national anthem at an event at Kagvad in Rajkot district of Gujarat.
The occasion was installation of idol of goddess Khodiyar at a newly-built Khodal Dham temple in the town.
"Over 3.5 lakh people sang the anthem together at the idol installation ritual in the presence of observers from Guinness World Records," said Hansraj Gajera, a member of Khodal Dham temple trust.
Earlier, 2,54,537 people had sung the national anthem in Bangladesh in 2014 and set a record. That record was today broken, according to Gajera.
"We received certificate of record from Guinness World Records officials," he added.

The trust also set two new records for Limca Book of Records, by organising the longest (40 km) 'shobha-yatra' (procession) and a 1008-kund 'mahayagna', he said.

Goddess Khodiyar is particularly revered by the Leuva Patel community.
Trust officials claimed that over 50 lakh devotees were estimated to have visited the temple during the five-day installation ceremony which began on January 17.
The temple was built at the cost of Rs 60 crore. The trust was planning to set up an agricultural university adjacent to the temple premises, Gajera said.
Several leaders from BJP and Congress as well as the Patel quota agitation leader Hardik Patel visited the temple during the last four days, he said.