TM Krishna has been a target of right-wing groups for his views on secularism and including the hymns praising Christ and Allah, and poems by writers including Perumal Murugan to Carnatic Music.
New Delhi| The concert of top Carnatic singer TM Krishna has been cancelled by the organizers after a Twitter backlash by allegedly right-wing groups and individuals. TM Krishna-one of the top names in Carnatic Music was to perform at the concert to be held in New Delhi.
The Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the SPIC-MACAY are jointly organizing a cultural festival at Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri called “Dance and Music in the Park”. TM Krishna’s concert was to be a part of the two-day cultural fest. The AAI announced his performance at the event on November 10 through a tweet followed by several advertisements.
#AAI cordially invites you to a Carnatic vocal performance by @tmkrishna who will be accompanied by R.K. Shriramkumar on violin, Praveen Sparsh on Mridangam & Anirudh Athreya on Kanjira – on 17th November in the 2nd edition of 'Dance & Music in the Park' at Nehru Park, Delhi. pic.twitter.com/8ZiUd4n2xC
— Airports Authority of India (@AAI_Official) November 10, 2018
TM Krishna retweeted the tweet by AAI on Monday which led to a stream of trolls calling him an “Urban Naxal”, “Anti-National” and other abuses. The hashtag #DisinviteTMKrishna was also trending on Twitter.
@sureshpprabhu ji & @jayantsinha ji, do you agree with him that @narendramodi govt's ministers/MLAs/MPs publish fake news? Is it ok when he says Indians don't matter to Modi ji's govt? He says BJP/RSS members are castiest & religiously bigoted ones…u agree? #DisinviteTMKrishna pic.twitter.com/juZsPuV054
— Chowkidar Gayathri (@igayathri9) November 13, 2018
@AAI_Official if you are going to invite tmk don't call it a carnatic event.. #DisinviteTMKrishna else you guilty of tarnishing carnatic music with his participation.. Do some background check on his dubious credentials.
— You (@BelaginaJava) November 13, 2018
Carnatic sabhas are already disinviting him for his anti-traditional stance. Definitely, tax-payer money cannot be used on this #UrbanNaxal #DisinviteTMKrishna https://t.co/lHQa3cC3kK
— Bharatiya chowkidar (@v_venkataraman) November 12, 2018
However, according to a report appeared in a news portal, the show was called off two days later. The report revealed that SPIC-MACAY was informed about the cancellation of the event on Tuesday night by AAI. It cited “some exigencies of work,” as the reason. it further said that it cannot go ahead with the concert.
Meanwhile, the AAI Chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra has denied the charge that the concert was pulled down because of the Twitter backlash.
The Carnatic singer has been a target of right-wing groups for his views on secularism and including the hymns praising Christ and Allah, and poems by writers including Perumal Murugan to Carnatic Music.
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