Arijit Singh’s Kolkata concert canceled due to ‘Gerua’ controversy; BJP, TMC are face to face

Citing the reason behind the cancellation of Arijit Singh’s Kolkata concert scheduled for February 18, the BJP claimed that Singh had recently performed ‘Rang De Tu’ in the presence of Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee at the inauguration of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival. Mohe Gerua’ was sung.

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While TMC rejected it and cited a G20 meeting in the same area as the reason for canceling Arijit Singh’s concert. However, the TMC government claimed that the show would be held on the same date and the search for an alternate venue was on.

Leader of the Opposition Shubhendu Adhikari took a dig at the state government over the ‘saffron controversy’, tweeting, “Music knows no boundaries when it comes to Pakistani Ghulam Ali, but the case is different for Indian Arijit Singh.”

Besides Adhikari, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh also told reporters that Singh was poached by state agency Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) for singing opposite Banerjee at KIFF.

Earlier, BJP IT cell chief Amit Malviya ignited the debate by commenting on the issue and taking a cue from Amitabh Bachchan’s words when he spoke about the shrinking space for civil liberties and freedom of expression at the Kolkata Film Festival.

Meanwhile, HIDCO chairman and state minister Firhad Hakim rejected the BJP’s allegation. He insisted that the BJP was “not the custodian of the saffron colour”.

Hakim said, “Arjit Singh’s concert had to be canceled as a large number of national and international guests would attend the G20 meeting at Biswa Bangla Convention Center near Echo Park. Police cited security issues and we accepted their recommendation.” took.” Told.

He said that Salman Khan’s show at Echo Park, which was to be held at the end of January, was also cancelled, but there was no hue and cry about it.

TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said several alternative venues, including Aquatica theme park, were being explored for Singh’s concert.

“Arijit sang at the inauguration of KIFF on 15 December and the money deposited for his Echo Park concert was returned on 8 December. An amount of Rs. 3 lakh deposited for a program of Salman Khan was also returned. Then how come the question of saffron?” he said in a Facebook post in Bengali.

“Similarly, Salman Khan’s program will be held at Milan Mela Mela ground. Why no controversy is being raised over the cancellation of his Eco Park program?” she added.

With agency inputs.