Home Minster Shivraj Patil informed the Lok Sabha on Tuesday that there was no move on the part of the government to have the word 'Sindh' deleted from the national anthem.
Replying to supplementaries during Question Hour, he said the government is opposed to any deletion from or addition to the national anthem. The Centre is contesting the writ petition in the Supreme Court seeking the deletion of the word 'Sindh', he said.
Sanjeev Bhatnagar had filed a writ petition in the SC, seeking an appropriate order or writ for deletion of the word or its substitution by some other word like 'Kashmir'.
"We don't want to mutilate the national anthem and our stand will be the same in the court," he said.
Responding to a question on why the Northeast region was not included in the anthem, Patil said, "The national anthem reflects our culture, whether it is north, south, east or west. It does not represent the geographical aspect."
The minister said the Centre has been regularly receiving letters from various people suggesting deletion or addition of words in the national anthem.
Earlier report:
Let 'Sindh' remain in anthem: Sindhis to SC
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