Gurugram: It was meant to celebrate the state’s cultural heritage and history. But the composition recommended for adoption as Haryana’s state song has run into a controversy with its writer, a scholar and former academic, facing allegations of plagiarism.
A five-member selection committee had last month advised the assembly to adopt the composition as Haryana’s state song. As ThePrint reported earlier, the state song was to be unveiled in the ongoing budget session.
The controversy over ‘Jai Jai Jai Haryana’ began after Geetu Pari, an artiste, alleged that the final composition contained portions from her song ‘Jai Jai Mera Haryana’. Soon after, Krishan Kumar, who trains children for admissions to Jawahar Navodaya Vidyalaya and Kendriya Vidyalaya in Dhingsara village in Fatehabad, alleged that more than 85 percent of the composition was “stolen” from his submission to the state’s art and culture department.
Dr Balkishan Sharma, the scholar of Hindi and Haryanvi folk literature who has been credited by the five-member committee as the writer of the final composition, denied the allegations when contacted by ThePrint Monday.
While the assembly has yet to deal with these claims, it has received three more complaints of plagiarism, ThePrint has learnt. Speaker Harvinder Kalyan has directed the five-member panel chaired by Laxman Singh Yadav, the BJP MLA from Rewari, to resolve these issues before the composition can be adopted as the state song.
Yadav confirmed to ThePrint Monday that adoption of the composition as the state song stands delayed, adding that the selection committee is working to resolve the issue before the end of the ongoing budget session. According to the schedule, the budget session of the Haryana Legislative Assembly has only three sittings left—26, 27 and 28 March.
Other members of the committee are Jhajjar Congress MLA Geeta Bhukkal, Hansi BJP MLA Vinod Bhayana, Fatehabad Congress MLA Balwan Singh Doulatpuria, and Dabwali INLD MLA Aditya Devilal as members.
“Most of the claims seem to be prima facie frivolous,” Yadav said.
Dr Balkishan Sharma, credited with the composition ‘Jai Jai Jai Haryana’, is a former associate professor and HoD of Hindi at SD PG College, Panipat. A scholar of Haryanvi folk literature, he has authored eight books. The final composition is composed by Paras Chopra and directed by Malvika Pandit from Rohtak. Singer Kailash Kher was roped in to lend his voice to the composition, but the gig finally went to Haryanvi singer Dr Shyam Sharma.
The three-minute composition contains 21 lines, which encapsulate Haryana’s way of life and its traditional diet rich in milk and curd. It also highlights the state’s social fabric, its advancements, and emphasises its vibrant folk arts, including Saang and Ragini.
Claims to ‘due credit’
The controversy over ‘Jai Jai Jai Haryana’ found its feet after Geetu Pari, a Sonipat-based actor and writer, claimed earlier this month that she wrote a ‘very similar’ composition on 29 January, 2024.
“I wrote ‘Jai-Jai’ twice in my song, but in the state song, it has been changed to three times. The lyrics are very similar. When I read the state song’s lyrics in the media, I realised that many of its lines closely resemble mine. Several verses from my song have been lifted, including words like Diwali, mosque, temple, and gurdwara. I also wrote about the wisdom of Haryanvi women, and some of my lines have been copied word-for-word.”
Pari told ThePrint that all she wants is shared credit for the composition.
But Pari isn’t the only one vying for credit. Krishan Kumar from Haryana’s Fatehabad district too is claiming that the composition is originally his.
Kumar told ThePrint that he wrote the composition in Haryanvi, it has now been translated into Hindi. When the state first issued newspaper advertisements in 2021 inviting entries for a state song, Kumar sent in his composition to the advertised mailing address. “Later, I learned that my song was among the three shortlisted entries. But it wasn’t finally selected. Now, I find that 85 percent of the lyrics in the final version were mine, while only 15 percent were modified to give credit to someone else.”
He insisted that he too should get due credit.
Dr Balkishan Sharma, dismissing Pari and Kumar’s allegations, told ThePrint that the government-issued advertisement to invite entries had a broad outline—that the entries should highlight the state’s cultural ethos—which is why certain words are bound to appear in all entries.
“You ask a primary class of 100 students to write an essay on a cow, and almost all will write that a cow has four legs, two eyes, two ears, two horns and a tail. How can anyone miss it? Similarly, while writing ‘Rajya Geet’ for Haryana, everyone will write that it is the land of the Mahabharata where Krishna delivered the message of Gita, doodh dahi ka khaana (people’s food is rich with milk and curd), its wrestlers and athletes etc,” he said.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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