BHUBANESWAR: The controversy over the demand for State song status to ‘Bande Utkala Janani’ intensified with the Western Odisha Yuva Manch and Koshala State Coordination Committee supporting Minister of State for Energy Sushanta Singh over his statement advocating replacement of the word ‘Utkala’ with Odisha in the song.
Differences have already cropped up in the ruling BJD over the issue with two senior leaders from Western Odisha, Sambalpur MP Nagendra Pradhan and former Speaker Kishore Chandra Mohanty opposing such a statement from Singh.
Pradhan had said that except for the man who has composed the song, no one has the right to change a single word of the poem. The former Speaker had said there is no demand in Western Odisha for replacement of the word Utkala. He also said whatever the Minister has said on the issue is his personal opinion and final decision will be taken by the State Government.
Activists of Western Odisha Yuva Manch took out a rally here on Thursday in support of the Minister. Ajit Kumar Pati, member of the Manch, said the demand to accord State song status to ‘Bande Utkala Janani’ is thoroughly unjustified since the song has overlooked the art and culture of Western Odisha. “We will support the decision of the State Government to accord State song status if the word Utkala is replaced with Odisha, which our Minister has proposed,” he said.