Did UNESCO Really Declared The Indian National Anthem As The Best?

A hoax email and  has resurfaced that claims that UNESCO has declared the Indian National Anthem Jana Gana Mana to be the best in the world. This email message has gone viral on Facebook and Whatsapp again. It appears to have first emerged in 2008, and again in 2012, before reappearing at the end of 2014. This message is believed to be fake and reports say that UNESCO has denied any such declaration on their part.

A Facebook page has also been created asking Indians to be proud because the Indian National Anthem has been declared the best in the world by UNESCO.

The recent supreme court rulingmakes it mandatory to sing national anthem before every movie is played in the cinema halls. The supreme court judge held that it should be sung “for the love of motherland”.

However the apparent flawed fact here remains that is singing the national anthem before every movie is a sign of love and patriotism for the country? Does it not point to the fact that even when you don’t sing it you might be very much patriotic and love your nation and even when you sing you might not feel a thing for the country?
Moreover this compelling decision points to the very fact that there is infringement of individual liberty. Thus, nationalism or patriotism is not limited to national anthem. It is very broad term encompassing all aspects of life.

However, no matter how compelling the decision may sound, it is our moral responsibility to look into the fact that we do not disrespect our national anthem and hold ourselves in high regard while singing it.

Jana Gana Mana is based on a Bengali-Sanskrit poem written by Rabindranath Tagore, India's great poet and author of pre-Independence era who had also put his poem to tune.

The Indian National Anthem hoax email is in a series of online hoaxes, the recent ones being a fake picture of the baby of Riteish Deshmukh and Genelia, and also the fake photo of Aaradhya Bachchan - the daughter of Abhishek and Aishwarya Rai Bachchan years ago. Another fake was the beautiful Diwali lights photo clicked from space that emerged in 2011.