Worse treatment than Sudheendra Kulkarni, warns the Shiv Sena.
By Sreekanth A Nair
The Shiv Sena stoked a new controversy by threatening that it wouldn’t permit Pakistani Ghazal artist Ghulam Ali to perform a concert at the Lucknow Mahotsav, scheduled on December 3.
The Press Trust of India quoted Shiv Sena Uttar Pradesh state chief Anil Singh as saying, “If Ghulam Ali somehow manages to reach here to perform at the Lucknow Mahotsav as scheduled on December 3, we will make things worse for him than what was done with Sudheendra Kulkarni in Mumbai.”
The Shiv Sena asked the state government to abstain Ghulam Ali from performing in the festival if it didn’t want to invite any unwanted incidents.
Sudheendra Kulkarni, who was a speechwriter for former Indian prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, was smeared by black ink by Sena activists for hosting the book launch of former Pakistan minister Khurshid Mahmud Kasuri in Mumbai last month.
Criticizing Bollywood superstar Shah Rukh Khan, Anil Singh demanded that “all his sources of income, as well as his properties in foreign land, should also be probed.”
Last month, Ghulam Ali had cancelled his concert in Mumbai after Shiv Sena came out against the organizers for plans to host the Pakistani artist in India.
Lucknow Mahotsava is a 10-day-long festival organized every year between November 25 and December 5, to showcase the art and culture of Uttar Pradesh. This year the authorities have fixed the concert of Ghulam Ali after consulting with his son Amir.