State anthem: HC tells govt to check practice in neighbouring states

Bengaluru, NT Bureau: The High Court of Karnataka has directed the government to check whether there are state anthems in the neighbouring states of Tamil Nadu, Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, and if so, what are the measures taken there regarding their composition, tune composition and the practice of singing them.

 Singer Kikkeri KrishnaMurthy had filed an application in the KC seeking cancellation of an order issued by the Government of Karnataka making it mandatory to sing the State anthem in the tune composed by Mysore Ananthaswamy.

The HC issued the directions after hearing the petition on Wednesday. The State had issued the order mandating the music composed by Mysore Ananthaswamy on September 25, 2023.

KrishnaMurthy had challenged it in the petition he had filed soon after.

He had claimed that Ananthaswamy had not composed the tune for the full song and therefore the government's order was impossible to implement.

The poem ‘Jaya Bharata Jananiya Tanujate’ by Kuvempu was designated the State Anthem of Karnataka in 2004, but has been embroiled in controversy over the government's changing stand on the duration of the song to be used in official functions and the tune to which it should be sung.