Almost a month after the Jaipur Municipal Corporation in Rajasthan said it would play the national anthem at the office every morning, the Vasundhara Raje led government in the state has now announced that all students in government hostels across her state will have to sing it regularly.
The Department for Social Justice and Empowerment (SJE) of Rajasthan has said residents of 800 government-run and government-aided hostels will have to follow the rule as "it will help kindle the spirit of patriotism in students".
The directive that came into effect on Sunday, November 26, says the national anthem is to be sung along with the morning prayers at 7 am on a daily basis.
SJE Department Director Samit Sharma said the students of residential schools have already been reciting the national anthem and the new rule is just an extension of it. "We have just asked the national anthem to be sung regularly like it is being done in any other school," Sharma was quoted as saying by the Scroll.
This means around 40,000 students from government schools and 22 residential schools will now be singing the anthem every morning.
This is not the first time the BJP-ruled Rajasthan government has shown such an affinity for the national anthem.
The government had on November 8 made around 50,000 people sing the national song and the national anthem at an event in Jaipur, held in order to celebrate the first anniversary of demonetisation.
