"Jan-Gan-Man adhinayaka jai hey... 'adhinayaka' for whom? It praises British rule. It should be amended and replaced by word 'jan-gan-man mangal gaye'," he said at the 26th convocation ceremony of the University of Rajasthan.
"I have got respect for Rabindranath Tagore, but national anthem's 'adhinayaka' word should be replaced by 'mangal'," he said.
Soon after the poem was composed by Tagore in December, 1911, it had sparked a debate whether it contained praise of the British rule. However, Tagore himself in a letter to Pulin Behari Sen in 1937 rejected the charge.
The comments by Singh, a former chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, come days after he compared Maharana Pratap with Mughal Emperor Akbar, saying that the Rajput ruler was "inspirational" to the nation with the suffix "great".
Reiterating those views today, the governor said that the education department should run courses in which Maharana Pratap's life and his struggle are specifically highlighted.