Delhi Archdiocese Celebrates National Anthem Centenary

(January 04, 2012) Delhi archdiocese celebrated 100 years of India’s national anthem on New Year’s Day. Bishop, priests, religious, the youth and the laity sung the ‘Jana gana mana…’ as the chief guest Dheerendra Tyagi, Delhi Pradesh Congress Committee vice president unfurled the national flag at the Sacred Heart Cathedral in Delhi. Composed by Nobel laureate Rabindranath Tagore, the anthem in Bengali with a mix of Sanskrit was first sung on December 27, 1911 at the Calcutta session of the Indian National Congress. Three years after India became Independent the Constituent Assembly officially adopted it as the country’s national anthem on January 24, 1950. The song fired patriotism in every Indian during the Independence movement, said the archdiocese’s youth leader, Fr Chetan Machado. A.C. Michael, member of Delhi minority commission, described the anthem “as a unifying force in a country with a vast diversity”. Speaking on the occasion, Tyagi praised the Christian community “whose deeds far outnumbered their population”. He said that the health and educational institutions of the minority community were rendering yeoman service to the nation. Auxiliary Bishop Franco Mulakkal, who organised the programme, said “we will work for the development of our nation and will help implement government schemes and enable larger number of people to capitalize from it. We will spread education and awareness on a large scale.”