NEW DELHI: Popular Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali will sing in December in New Delhi, where the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) has invited him after the neo-fascist Shiv Sena forced him to cancel a Friday concert in Mumbai.
The new arrangement evidently has the blessings of the Modi government, which controls the issuance of visas.
The Hindu said Delhi Tourism Minister Kapil Mishra met Ghulam Ali on Friday and the singer had agreed to perform in the capital.
Mr Mishra invited the singer on Thursday to perform in Delhi after the Mumbai show was forcibly abandoned. In a tweet, Mr Mishra said “Sad that Ghulam Ali is not being allowed in Mumbai, I invite him to come to Delhi and do the concert. Music has no boundaries.”
On Friday, Mr Mishra and Aam Aadmi Party MLA from Kalkaji Avtar Singh met the 75-year-old singer in Kalkaji. According to sources in Delhi government, Mr Ali has accepted the government’s invite and has agreed to perform in Delhi in December.
The singer, who has a vast fan following in India, was scheduled to perform in concerts in Mumbai and Pune this week as a tribute to late ghazal singer Jagjit Singh on his death anniversary. The show in Mumbai, however, was cancelled after the Shiv Sena threatened to disrupt the concert.
Published in Dawn, October 10th , 2015
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