In yet another hammer blow to erase Mahatma Gandhi's association with India and the freedom movement his favourite hymn 'Abide with me' has been dropped from the Beating retreat ceremony on Republic Day, this right after the government's move to extinguish the eternal flame at Amar Jawan Jyoti.
AWT, a haunting tune by poet Henry Francis Lyte was planned to be done away with in 2020 and 2021 too but public outcry and strong objection from armed forces personnel forced the sarkar on backtrack.
The beautiful hymn, part of the ceremonies sans any religious or 'British' connotation was about soldiers remembering their fallen comrades in wars fought for the defence of their motherland.
Increasingly western tunes are being replaced by Swadeshi pieces in a New India hurtling towards an insular, non inclusive Hindu rashtra aka Ram Rajya.
A despicable, petty and mean move by the sarkar for whom Godses and Savarkars are the new Gandhi, this dispensation falls to new lows with every passing day.
