 "Representative image")
The Bhartiya Janata Party-led Rajasthan government has announced that students in 800 government hostels across the state will have to sing the national anthem every day, according to media reports.
The students have been directed to recite the national anthem at 7 am daily during the morning prayers.
Rajasthan’s Department for Social Justice and Empowerment issued the notification, saying the move aims to “evoke” the spirit of nationalism in students, reported The Times of India. It said the national anthem was already being sung in all residential schools and it will now be followed in hostels as well.
Citing that the tradition was already a part of the regular routine in hostels, the department’s Principal Secretary Samit Sharma, however, said, the tradition was not followed regularly because of a shortage of staff in the hostels.
Earlier, on November 8, Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje-led government, to celebrate the one-year anniversary of the demonetisation drive, had made 50,000 people in the state sing the national anthem and the national song at an event in Jaipur.
Prior to that, on November 1, the Jaipur civic body had made it compulsory for all employees to sing the national anthem every morning and Vande Mataram every morning. “Those who oppose the directive should go to Pakistan,” said Jaipur Mayor Ashok Lahoty.
Rajasthan Social Justice and Empowerment Department has 789 hostels for Other Backward Classes, Scheduled Castes and Scheduled Tribes across the state with 40,000 students, and 22 residential schools.
