Lakhs of people sing Bande Utkal Janani in Odisha to boost morale of COVID-19 warriors

Lakhs of people across Odisha and many others outside the state on Saturday stood up at 5.30 pm and sang the state song to show solidarity with frontline workers engaged in the fight against COVID-19 in the eastern state. Responding to a call given by Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik, people from different walks of life including politicians of different parties, professionals, celebrities, students, social activists, farmers, both men and women sang Bande Utkal Janani, the state song written by Kantakabi Laxmikanta Mohapatra, for 4.40 minutes.

Overwhelmed by the massive response from every nook and corner of the country and beyond, Patnaik expressed his deep gratitude towards all the people and said, "I am indebted to you all." Patnaik thanked Swiss Member of Parliament Dr Nik Gugger, who along with his mother Elizabeth Gugger posted a video on Twitter while singing Bande Utkal Janani as a salute to Odisha COVID-19 warriors. "Thank you Dr @NikGugger for joining us to honour our #CovidWarriors. #BandeUtkalJanani," Patnaik said in his reply tweet.

The chief minister also thanked noted singer Asha Bhosle, musician Shankar Mahadevan, Union minister Dharmendra Pradhan and others who posted in social media visuals of their singing of 'Bande Utkal Janani' to boost the morale of the people engaged in tackling the deadly virus. Beginning from children to elderly persons and leaders cutting across party lines have united and expressed their solidarity towards the COVID-19 warriors for whom the highly infectious pandemic has been contained to a great extent in Odisha, said Patnaik.

The chief minister said, Odisha has achieved a rare feat in containing the pandemic while many powerful nations and rich states within India have not been able to control the situation. He sought cooperation from all sections of the society to defeat the pandemic. Wearing masks and maintaining social distance, the people including Governor Ganeshi Lal, Patnaik himself, Union ministers Dharmendra Pradhan and Pratap Sarangi, Assembly speaker S N Patro, Chief Secretary A K Tripathy, DGP Abhay and others gathered in their respective places and sang the song as a mark of respect to hundreds of doctors, nurses, paramedics, sweepers and all those who are frontline warriors against COVID-19.

Patriotism appeared to have gripped the entire state at 5.30 pm as people at their homes, offices, markets, roads and even during walks stopped to sing the song. The traffic police in the state capital had put big sound boxes on road sides and played the patriotic song while the police band also performed to the tune of 'Bande Utkal Janani' at the Commissionrate of Police headquarters here and State Police Headquarters in Cuttack.

The East Coast Railway played the song at all its establishments, including railway stations across Odisha. Several programmes were organised in many parts of the state, including the one held at Kalinga Stadium here.

Opposition parties like BJP and Congress also made special arrangements in their state headquarters here for singing the state song. Lauding the contribution of the frontline workers, the chief minister had appealed to the people to stand up and sing the state song at 5.30 pm on Saturday.

The chief minister had also appealed to Odias staying in other parts of the country and abroad to sing the song as a mark of respect for COVID-19 warriors..