At a time when nationalism has become a hot topic in our country, a small municipal town in Telangana's Karimnagar district has taken patriotism to a whole new level. On the Independence day - the entire town of Jammikunta came together to sing the National Anthem - all at once. The town has a population of about 45,000 and is on the grand trunk railway line, 55 kilometers from the district head quarters.
As part of the drive, mike arrangements were made at main centers and streets in the town. As many as 70 CCTC cameras were also set up in these locations. A siren was sounded before the national anthem being played so as to alert the public. At 8am , the entire town stood up and sang the National Anthem together. The initiative is the brainchild of the local Circle Inspector of Police, Pingali Prashanth Reddy. Shocked about the ignorance of the students about the country and National Anthem during a routine programme, the police took the initiative to create awareness among the students and others also. “I was surprised and felt bad as the students even do not know whether the national anthem is ‘Jana Gana Mana’ or ‘Vande Mataram,” Prashanth Reddy said.
The local police have arranged for the public address systems at Gandhi Chowk, Ambedkar Chowk, Railway Over Bridge, Kothapalli, Kakatiya school on Veenavanka road, Town Panchayat, Vivekananda statue and some other places. For the last one week or so, extensive campaign had been launched by the local police on the programme and several hoardings were set up exhorting people to sing the national anthem.
Commissioner of Karimnagar, VB Kamalasan Reddy said that people enthusiastically participated and expressed their happiness. The police has decided to play the National Anthem every day at the stroke of 8am and make the entire town to stand up in a display of patriotic fervour for 52 seconds. However, not everyone are impressed with this idea. While some call it an 'agenda', some said there would be a gradual decrease in the interest to sing National Anthem everyday, which would be more disrespectful to the National Anthem. Keeping all the hatred aside, let's appreciate the novel idea and hope for a better society.
