During a commemorative event marking the 100th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee, on December 25 in Patna, a protest ensued when prominent folk singer Devi sang the lines which reflect the religious harmony in the country, eventually forcing her to stop singing.
The event titled Main Atal Rahunga was organised at Gandhi Sabhaghar Hall. The singer’s lines from a well-known bhajan, associated with Mahatma Gandhi, “Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram,” were met with protests from members of BJP as the singer started to sing “Ishwar Allah tero naam.” The members including Union Minister of Health and Family Welfare Ashwini Kumar Chaube immediately rushed to the stage and stopped her from singing by snatching the microphone from her and started chanting ‘Jai Shree Ram.’
After this bizarre interruption, the leaders forced Devi to apologise. Upon intimidation, the singer finally apologized and was also forced to say, “God belongs to everyone and I intended to mean Ram and Sita.”
The total number of protesters is said to be 50 and haven’t been identified yet.
Union Minister Ashwini Kumar, who was also a minister during the Vajpayee government rule, was present there along with former Union ministers including Shahnawaz Hussain, Sanjay Paswan and CP Thakur.
Reacting to the protest at the event, Shahnawaz Hussain said, “The protest during the bhajan is the height of intolerance. I am so embarrassed and ashamed.”
Folk singer Devi said, “I was invited to get fairly stated at the event the organisers had requested me to sing a bhajan and I thought since we had gathered to commemorate Vajpayee ji it is a good idea to sing Gandhi’s favourite bhajan.
“When I reached ‘Ishwar Allah tero naam’ they started to protest against the bhajan and I had to stop immediately,” she added noting how disappointed she was as this was Gandhiji’s favourite.
Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi criticizing the BJP said the BJP’s “respect for Mahatma Gandhi ji is not genuine and accused the party of respecting National heroes repeatedly.”
Lalu Prasad Yadav also reacted to the incident and said, “Sanghis and BJP hate the name and slogan of ‘Jai Siya Ram’, ‘Jai Sitaram’ because it has the praise of mother Sita, they have been anti-women since the beginning.
