Arijit Singh’s Kolkata concert cancelled over ‘gerua’ row; BJP, TMC lock horns

Alleging the reason for cancellation of Arijit Singh’s Kolkata concert to be held on February 18, BJP claimed Singh had recently sung ‘rang de tu mohe gerua’ in the presence of CM Mamata Banerjee at the inauguration of the 28th Kolkata International Film Festival.

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While the TMC rubbished it and cited a G20 meeting in the same area as reason for cancellation of Arijit Singh’s concert. However, the TMC government claimed that the show will be held on the same date and a hunt for an alternate location is on.

Hitting out at state government over the ‘gerua row’, Leader of Opposition Suvendu Adhikari tweeted, “Music has no boundaries when it comes to Pakistani Ghulam Ali but the case is different for Hindustani Arijit Singh.”

Apart Adhikari, BJP national vice-president Dilip Ghosh also told reporters that Singh was victimised by state agency Housing and Infrastructure Development Corporation (HIDCO) for singing the song in front of Banerjee at KIFF.

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

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

“Arijit Singh’s concert had to be cancelled as there will be a large number of national and international guests at a G20 meeting at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre near Eco Park around the same time. Police cited security issues and we went by their recommendation,” Hakim said.

Salman Khan’s show scheduled at Eco Park in January end was also cancelled but there was no hullabaloo over it, he said.

TMC state spokesperson Kunal Ghosh said that several alternate locations including Acquatica theme park are being scoured for Singh’s concert.

“Arijit had sung at the KIFF inauguration on December 15 and money deposited for his Eco Park concert was returned on December 8. An amount of ₹3 lakh deposited for a programme of Salman Khan was also returned. Then how did the question of saffron come?” he said in a Facebook post in Bangla.

“Similarly, Salman Khan’s programme will be held at Milan Mela Fair Ground. Why is no controversy being raked up over the cancellation of his Eco Park programme?” he added.

With agency inputs.