Saare Jahaan se Achcha

There will probably be very few Indians (at least from the northern part of the country) who will not have heard of the song, Saare Jahaan se Achcha by the poet Mohammed Iqbal. It is widely considered to be a patriotic song in praise of India. But how many people know that the poet proposed a separate nation for Muslims which became the Pakistan concept and that he later disavowed the song? Also Iqbal is the national poet of Pakistan. Maybe understandably, the song is little known in Pakistan and Bangladesh. Read this article.

This country is weird in its inclusivity. Accusations have also been made against our current national anthem that it is in fact a song of praise addressed to the British Monarch. Tagore himself acknowledged that he was asked to pen something in praise of the emperor, but he ended up addressing it to God and not to the British monarch as this was something that he could not do.

Remember the controversy some time back to change the lyrics of the national anthem as Sindh is no longer a part of India? The final verdict was that Sindh refers to the people and hence the word need not be removed. Thus India has consistently been a mixture of people - tolerant and zealous/bigoted. When will all Indians finally understand this and live amicably with one another?