While the Shiv Sena’s pressure tactics have succeeded in getting the organisers of Ghulam Ali’s concert to cancel it, despite Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis’ assurance yesterday, this is not the first time the party played spoilsport.
The Shiv Sena’s animosity towards Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali goes back to the 90s when they gate-crashed his concert in April 1998.
Here’s a news report filed by PTI (news agency) about that incident:
A live concert of Pakistan’s popular ghazal singer Ghulam Ali was stopped midway by a group of Shiv Sainiks at Hotel Juhu Centaur on Sunday night.
After the programme began at 7.30 pm, at least 100 Sainiks barged into the hotel premises and went straight to the podium at the poolside. “We shall not allow any Pakistani singer to perform in India, because no Indian singer was welcomed in that country’’ thundered a Sainik. They were led by Vinayak Raut, leader of the Sena union of the hotel and municipal corporators Ramesh Mahadik and Ashok Patil. The Sainiks then rendered a Marathi song Jai Jai Maharashtra Majha, besides raising slogans Shiv Sena Zindabad. Uddhav Thackeray, chief guest, did not attend the concert, but his wife Rashmi and her family members were present.
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