Mumbai: Actor Mukesh Khanna has made a rather shocking statement calling for the National Anthem to be replaced with ‘Vande Mataram’.
The actor spoke with IANS on Sunday, and claimed that the National Anthem ‘Jana Gana Mana’ was written as a tribute to Queen Elizabeth.
He told IANS, “I have said this three years ago that ‘Vande Mataram’ should be made a national anthem.’Jana Gana Mana’ is not the national anthem of our country. It is a tribute to Queen Elizabeth. Rabindranath Tagore wrote a song in praise of her. We have accepted it. Bhagyavidhata, Punjab, Singh. It is not ours. ‘Vande Mataram’ is ours. Lata ji sang it so beautifully. I had a meeting with Kalyanji Anandji bhai. It has been two years since I have read it. I have recorded a Vande Mataram song for seven minutes which should become iconic”.
He further mentioned, “And I want that as soon as possible, ‘Jana Gana Mana’ should be removed from our country. ‘Vande Mataram’ should be brought. And Modi ji has started work in this direction. It is now compulsory in every school, in every function. ‘Vande Mataram’ will be sung first, and that complete song, some parts of which were removed in between. So I am happy that ‘Vande Mataram’ is rising. My song has been released in six months”.
This is not the 1st time the actor has made a controversial statement. Earlier, he blasted comedian Samay Raina after the latter took a dig at the actor-producer’s iconic 90s character Shaktimaan in his latest ‘Still Alive’ show.
Mukesh took to X, formerly called Twitter, where he said that Samay should sit on a donkey and tagged him as a “Kutte ki dum” (a dog’s tail)”.
His statement came days after Samay spoke about “irrelevant people” tried to grab the spotlight amid his ‘India’s Got Latent’ controversy. However, later Mukesh Khanna himself collaborated with the comedian an unexpected advertisement.
(IANS)
