The martial music of Jana Gana Mana, precisely as it is played today, was set at the instance of Netaji Subhas Chandra Bose, while he was in exile in Germany and leading the Indian National Army from there. Prior to that, there were several musical versions of the lyrics written by Nobel Laureate Rabindranath Tagore, but its most popular version was the consequence of the contribution made by Bose and his close associate Ambika Majumdar, who codified the music to enable the Hamburg Chamber Orchestra of the Hamburg Radio to play it for the first time in front of an international audience on 11 September 1942. The orchestra was conducted by Eigel Kruttge.
Though the unknown facts regarding the anthem were first made public as far back in 1980, on Netaji’s birthday on 23 January by All India Radio (AIR), which ran a news feature by Chitra Narain, the then Chief Producer (English Features), successive governments, for reasons best known to them, were hesitant to the point of concealing the truthful genesis of the iconic song. Chitra had done extensive research on the Bose connection with Jana Gana Mana, since he had made it the anthem of the Azad Hind Fauj in 1942 itself, many years before it actually became the National Anthem of independent India.
Chitra’s three-year research involved talking extensively to those close to the INA and she came across valuable material provided to her by Captain Wilhelm Lutz, who was in-charge of the Indian Legion, and by a Bose loyalist, Ganpulley who had settled down in Whitefield in Madras and had the master record of the anthem after it was played in Hamburg. Ganpulley did not share his prized possession with the Central government as long as the Congress was in power, but readily gave it during the Janata Party rule in the late 1970s.
According to Chitra, India did not have a National Anthem when it attained Independence and matters came to a head when the Indian delegation was asked for the anthem during the United Nations General Assembly in New York in 1947. The delegation was in possession of only a record of the INA’s orchestral rendering of the Jana Gana Mana, which was handed over to the orchestra for assisting it to practice. Thereafter, when played before a huge gathering that included world leaders, it was an instant hit and various countries sent messages of appreciation for this tune, which was considered more accomplished to most other anthems.
In the news feature broadcast by AIR, Chitra was able to also record the voice of Eigel Kruttge, who instantly recognised the tune to be the one recorded by his orchestra. He recalled that though Adolf Hitler was unable to attend the function in Hamburg on that day, the invitees included the mayor and some of the closest associates of both Bose and Hitler. The Tricolour also fluttered majestically as the orchestra rendered the anthem, after playing Beethoven’s symphony and some other memorable compositions. Netaji, at that time, was opposing the Allied forces, essentially to free India from the clutches of the British and in the process had aligned himself with Axis forces such as Germany and Japan. The song was first recorded in Wax and subsequently transferred to a Magnetophone German tape before being musically shifted on a regular record. The Magnetophone sound tape had been kept in safe custody by Ganpulley.
Lutz also provided Chitra with a lot of vital information regarding the Indian Legion of the INA and the Star of India, which was a commendation given by Netaji, one of India’s most celebrated freedom fighters so as to boost the morale of his Azad Hind Fauj. Since Bose travelled extensively to mobilise support for his cause of freeing his country, he also found it emotionally essential to have very strong national symbols. He was the first one to prop up Jana Gana Mana, the Tricolour, the Band Gala and had given the Jai Hind slogan to promote Indian nationalism as against British imperialism. Chitra had also held extensive conversations with many of Netaji’s associates, who were at that time alive and they included Abid Hassan Safrani and A.C.N. Nambiar.
Asked how and why she decided to do a feature on the National Anthem at the time, Chitra recalled that soon after the Janata Party came to power, Lal Krishna Advani, the then Information and Broadcasting Minister, called up the Director General of the AIR and asked him to do a programme on the Bose connection to the National Anthem. The DG summoned Chitra, who had succeeded the legendary broadcaster, the late Melville de Mellow, and sent her for briefing from Advani. The meeting with the minister, which was arranged by his special secretary Gopal Tandon, was exceptionally clinical and she informed Advani that she could not do the programme instantly since extensive research was required for such a project. The minister gave her the go ahead and she embarked on a historically monumental and historic assignment, as the popular belief in the country was that the lyrics and music of the anthem were written by Rabindranath Tagore.
Chitra stated that she discovered that Tagore had only recited the lyrics and there was no evidence that he had actually set it to music as well. There were versions of the song available, but it was Ambika Majumdar, who was apparently also well versed with Western music and its notations, who codified it to facilitate its rendering as a martial tune. She travelled to Germany and also sought the help of the Max Mueller Bhawan in New Delhi to translate the documents she obtained from her visits to Hamburg, Munich and other cities.
Chitra recalled that by the time the feature got ready, the Janata Party government fell and even the subsequent Charan Singh government did not last too long. She slotted it for broadcast on Netaji’s birthday in 1980 and though the Congress returned to power, the programme went on air as scheduled. The feature was highly acclaimed by eminent journalists and intellectuals such as S. Nihal Singh and K.S. Duggal, but was eventually consigned to the archives of the AIR. The government of the day never gave her the due recognition as “the staff artistes were always treated as the stepchildren of the AIR”.
Later, the research papers pertaining to the anthem were prominently displayed at the Gandhi Darshan on Ring Road after she gave them over to Y.P. Anand, a well known civil servant who played a stellar role in displaying papers related to the freedom struggle.
Chitra, who finally retired as the deputy director general of Doordarshan, remarked that she decided to share the details of the news feature since the National Anthem has been hitting the headlines following the Supreme Court’s directive to play it before the screening of films. She added that there had been a heated debate in the Constituent Assembly on whether to make Tagore’s Jana Gana Mana as the anthem or settle for Bankim Chandra Chatterjee’s Vande Mataram. On 25 August 1948, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru ended the controversy with his momentous statement in the Constituent Assembly. “It is unfortunate that some kind of argument has arisen as between Vande Mataram and Jana Gana Mana. Vande Mataram is indisputably the premier national song of India, with great historic tradition. In regard to the National Anthem, its tune should be such as to represent the Indian musical genius as well as, to some extent, the Western so that it might be adopted to orchestral and band music, and for being played abroad. The Jana Gana Mana tune is very distinctive and there is a certain life and movement in it. While Vande Mataram should continue to be the national song par excellence, the National Anthem tune should be that of Jana Gana Mana.”
It was only on 24 January 1950, that Dr Rajendra Prasad stated on the floor of the House that Jana Gana Mana was to be the National Anthem of India.