Darjeeling, May 12: The controversy regarding the Gorkha connection to the National Anthem is set to resurface with the All Gorkha Students’ Union (Agsu) deciding to install a statue of Captain Ram Singh Thakuri in Darjeeling.

Many Gorkhas claim that Thakuri was the man who composed the tune of Jana gana mana.

They believe Thakuri, a prominent member of the Azad Hind Fauj, had set the words Subh sukh chain ki barkha barsha to music, which was adopted as the national song of the exiled party led by Subhash Chandra Bose.

According to the Gorkhas, Netaji and his aide Abid Hussain had asked Thakuri to compose the score, which was later adopted for the National Anthem.

On April 16, 1997, Agsu filed a defamation suit against Rabindrasangeet exponent Subinoy Roy at the district court in Darjeeling after he voiced reservations on the Gorkha connection.

Agsu president Roshan Giri, who is mobilising public support for the installation of the statue, told The Telegraph: “In 1999, citing health problems, Roy filed a petition in the Calcutta High Court requesting that the case be transferred from the district court to the high court. We appealed against the transfer. The case is still pending.”

Agsu believes Thakuri has not received due respect and recognition for his role and believes the installation of the statue in Darjeeling would be a step towards correcting the anomaly.

In 1997, Agsu invited Thakuri to the hills where people from Darjeeling and the Dooars felicitated him.

“During his visit, he brought along the violin, which Netaji had presented to him after Subh sukh chain was first sung in 1943,” said Giri.

Thakuri had claimed publicly in Darjeeling that he had composed the tune to the song. The song was first sung on October 21, 1943, when the government was formed in exile.

Thakuri is also credited for giving tunes to the INA song Kadam kadam badhaye ja.

The freedom fighter, who was born in 1914 in Himachal Pradesh, was a recipient of the Uttar Pradesh government’s Tamra Patra. After Independence, the Uttar Pradesh government inducted him into its police band. He rose to the rank of honorary deputy superintendent of police. He breathed his last on April 11, 2002, at Lucknow.