Carnatic musician TM Krishna's programme in Delhi called off
The Delhi government on Thursday reached out to Carnatic singer TM Krishna after his weekend concert in the city was called off by the sponsors Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Thursday, allegedly after the singer was targeted by right wing trolls on social media.
Manish Sisodia, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal's deputy, who is also the culture minister, is personally in touch with the singer and "will be happy to help out," sources have told NDTV.
"There were urgent circumstances, that's why we postponed. We can't elaborate further than the press note we have issued," Guruprasad Mohapatra, the aviation body chairman told NDTV.
Earlier in a statement the AAI said, "We would like to inform that due to some urgent engagements, 'Dance and Music in the Park' programme jointly organized by AAI and SPICMACAY, scheduled on 17 and 18 November has been postponed and new dates would be announced shortly. Inconvenience is regretted."
Speaking to NDTV, TM Krishna said, "I have been trolled for a long time for my social position, my perspectives on politics in India and my disagreements with the BJP regime...I believe in every art form... Allah, Jesus and Ram make no difference...it is a multi-lingual and multi-religious country."
The Magsaysay Award winner said that he has earlier been accused of being pro-Christian, pro- conversion and an urban Naxal. "The troll army has the underlying patronage of people in power," alleged the singer.
In August, a fringe group in Tamil Nadu had threatened him for singing songs on Allah and Jesus in Carnatic. The controversy started after an audio clip reportedly of his songs was circulated on WhatsApp. The angry singer had tweeted "considering the vile comments and threats issued on social media regarding Karnatic compositions on Jesus, I announce here that I will be releasing one Karnatic song every month on Allah or Jesus."
Born in Chennai, TM Krishna started leaning music at the age of six and trained under several musicians like Chingleput Ranganathan, Vidvan Seetharama Sarma and Semmangudi Srinivasier. An economics graduate from the Madras University, he has authored three books, Voices Within: Carnatic Music - Passing on an Inheritance, 'A Southern Music - The Karnatik Story and 'Reshaping Art'.