Compelling one to sing National Anthem is unfair: Gopalkrishna Gandhi

India is about choices and making people singing the national anthem under an order will not work, said Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and former West Bengal governor. 
Social activist Aruna Roy, India’s first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the second Justice Krishna Iyer lecture in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday | Kaviyoor Santhosh
Social activist Aruna Roy, India’s first Chief Information Commissioner Wajahat Habibullah and former West Bengal governor Gopalkrishna Gandhi at the second Justice Krishna Iyer lecture in Thiruvananthapuram on Sunday | Kaviyoor Santhosh

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: India is about choices and making people singing the national anthem under an order will not work, said Gopalkrishna Gandhi, Mahatma Gandhi’s grandson and former West Bengal governor.  

“I love the national anthem which is probably one of the greatest in the world. But when asked to sing under an order it is unfair. India is about choices and choice denied is India denied,” Gandhi said.

Gandhi was delivering the second Justice Krishna Iyer memorial lecture organised by the Campaign for Judicial Accountability and Reforms in association with the National Campaign for People’s Right to Information here on Sunday. 

Fear, distrust and money rule the country, which also faces dangerous attempts to create a homogenous society, Gandhi said. Fear pervades the legislature, executive and even the judiciary, he added.

“I will not, need not, mention the name of a person. Fear rules India. Fact is, overall India is under fear. With so much fear how do you write the way you like?” he asked.

It is not desirable if the Cabinet colleagues view the Prime Minister as Alpha and Omega of everything, he said.  Fear rules the executive as well where civil service officers are afraid to speak out their mind. Gone are the days when ambassadors sent original reports. Now reports are as directed by the South Block, he said.

“Judiciary is a panacea in our democracy but sometimes the miasma of fear does not stop at the judiciary’s doors. At times it fears irritating the government or public opinions voiced by majoritarianism,” he said.

According to Gandhi, distrust is even more pervasive than fear in the country. Governments distrust independent and honest officers.

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