At 8:30 am every morning, Nalgonda city in Telangana comes to almost a standstill. People stop walking and stand in rapt attention while vehicles also stop moving and come to a halt. Why? Because the national anthem, Jana Gana Mana, is played on loudspeakers at twelve major junctions of the city. And everyone, no matter what they are doing, stands still for those 52 seconds. A video of people paying respect to the national anthem went viral on Internet and netizens are appreciative of this new initiative.
Indian Masterminds interacted with 2017-batch IAS officer and Additional Collector (Local Bodies) of Nalgonda, Mr. Rahul Sharma, to know more about this new step in the city.
JANA GANA MANA
India’s national Anthem, ‘Jana Gana Mana’, is played every day in Nalgonda city at all crossroads at 8:30 am and people stand still, some salute, some even with the national flag in hand. This initiative was initially started by an NGO named Jana Gana Mana Utsava Samithi last year on 23 January on account of Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose Jayanthi. They believed that singing the national anthem every morning will enhance patriotism among the masses. From then onwards, it is being continued and will go on.
TREND SPREADS TO SMALLER TOWNS
Now this trend has spread to several smaller towns around Nalgonda. Talking to Indian Masterminds, Additional Collector IAS Rahul Sharma said, “This will enhance sense of patriotism in people. People are also very enthusiastic about this. It was started by a NGO named Jana Gana Mana Utsava Samithi last year, and the whole administration supported them. We supported them as it is a noble gesture,now we also promote it. It will be continued as no onehas any problem with it.”
POSITIVE IMPACT
On asked about the impact of this initiative on the common people, the officer said, “The biggest impact that I am seeing is that the common people get the feeling of patriotism and, also, feel some responsibility towards our great nation. The people are happy and feel proud of their nationalism. If a person is going somewhere or is walking and suddenly the national anthem starts playing, then he immediately stands in attention. That feeling is seen in children also.”
He added said that the objective is that people should feel that they have a responsibility towards this country and develop a sense of patriotism towards their great nation. The time for playing the anthem has deliberately been kept in the morning as the crowd is very less at that time and there is no commotion.
An interesting fact is that Colonel Santosh Babu, who died during China-India skirmishes in 2020 in Galwan Valley of Ladakh, was born and raised in Nalgonda area of Telangana. The local people are naturally very proud of him, and he is also one of the reasons the patriotic fervour is very high in this region.
