Mumbai, Oct. 7: Ghazal singer Ghulam Ali must have realised today that music isn't always a bridge over troubled waters after the organisers of two concerts where he was to perform dumped him following a Shiv Sena warning not to invite the Pakistani artiste.
The decision came despite an assurance of adequate protection from chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, whose party, the BJP, runs the Maharashtra government with the Uddhav Thackeray-led Sena.
The Sena said no artiste from Pakistan could come and take part in a concert in Mumbai while Indian soldiers were being killed on the border.
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Ali, 74, was to have performed at the concerts, being held in the memory of ghazal maestro Jagjit Singh, with whom he shared a deep bond. On Friday, he was scheduled to perform at Mumbai's Shanmukhananda Hall, where the Sena holds many of its political and cultural events.
The next day, he was to perform at Pune.
The decision to cancel the performances came this evening after Sena boss Uddhav met the event organiser. "The programmes would be held as per schedule, but Ghulam Ali will not participate... This decision was taken at a meeting between the event organisers and Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray here this evening," Akshay Bardapurkar, general secretary of the Sena's film wing, Chitrapat Sena, said after the meeting.
Earlier in the evening, chief minister Fadnavis had told the TV9 news channel that adequate protection would be provided to Ali and the concert.
"If the government has given permission to Ghulam Ali (to perform), it is our responsibility to take care of his security.... I agree that our relations with Pakistan are not friendly and Pakistan's intentions may not be in our favour, but our actors are allowed to perform in Pakistan.... Ghulam Ali is an international singer. If he has spoken against our country and if his songs are anti-India, we have all the rights to bar him from visiting India. Our country's reputed singers have invited him, I feel we shouldn't oppose it," Fadnavis said.
Hours later, cocking a snook at the chief minister, Uddhav met the event organiser.
Yesterday, the Chitrapat Sena had sent a letter to the management trustees of the Mumbai auditorium.
Leo Francis, manager of Shanmukhananda Hall, read out from the letter written in Marathi. It said: "If you invite the Pakistani artiste to the show you will have to face the Shiv Sena's ire... bar the Pakistani artiste from coming to the programme, or else you will have to face not only the anger of the Shiv Sena, but also of the patriotic people of this country."
Randhir Roy, business head and founder of Panache Media, a Mumbai-based event management group that organises Ek Ehsas Concerts across India featuring the singer, said the "point these guys (the Sena) are raising in the latter is valid".
"The atmosphere is not conducive. We have decided to hold the concert without Ghulam Ali," Roy said after meeting Uddhav tonight.
Ali, who had performed at the same hall for the past few years at the invitation of Panache Media, made it clear that the concert had not been cancelled from his end.
"The atmosphere is not conducive for me to perform," PTI quoted him as saying. "Such controversies spoil people's sur (note). I am not angry, I am hurt."
