Ghulam Ali event put off after threat

An event where Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali was scheduled to launch the music of Indian film Ghar Wapsi was cancelled by a Delhi hotel on Monday allegedly over a threat by a fringe right-wing Hindutva group called Hindu Sena.

The New Delhi district police detained several right-wing outfit’s activists, including its chief Vishnu Gupta, when they were on their way to allegedly disrupt the music launch event.

The activists were detained at Ashoka Road around 2 pm as they were heading towards the music launch event at Royal Plaza Hotel in Connaught Place, a senior police officer said. They were put on a bus and were taken to a police station in New Delhi district.

The ghazal singer was to launch the music of Ghar Wapsi, a film by TV personality Suhaib Illyasi, on Monday evening. Some people reached the venue and protested, chanting, “Ghulam Ali Murdabad.”

While cancelling the press interaction, hotel officials allegedly cited threats by the outfit as well as the Bajrang Dal, an outfit affiliated to the BJP-aligned Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh.

Suhaib Ilyasi also filed a police complaint saying he had been threatened on the phone by Vishnu Gupta. “It is regrettable that Ghulam Ali’s music launch has been cancelled by the hotel management. We were told not to keep the event here as they feared that people from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Sena would disrupt it and destroy hotel property,” he said.

“We were given the security, but sadly again the management of a private hotel chickened out because of some protests. They have cancelled the event from taking place, a black mark on the exchange of love between two countries (India and Pakistan),” he added.

Ghar Wapsi — based on a term for homecoming that came to symbolise controversial right-wing Hindu religious conversions in 2014 — features the singer who is believed to have sung and composed an Indian patriotic song in the movie. Ghulam Ali’s performance in Mumbai was cancelled in October over aggressive protests by the Shiv Sena, which rules Maharashtra along with the BJP. Since then, the 75-year-old singer has performed in Kolkata, Thiruvan-anthapuram and Lucknow. The film also stars Farida Jalal and Zarina Wahab.