NEW DELHI: Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali has been invited to the Indian capital by a leader of New Delhi's ruling party, Aam Aadmi Party, a day after Ali's Mumbai concert was cancelled over threats by India's far right political party Shiv Sena.
Kapil Mishra, Delhi Culture Minister and AAP stalwart invited the famous ghazal singer to the city through his twitter account saying ‘Music has no boundaries’.
“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” tweeted Mishra.
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The ghazal singer was to perform at Mumbai city's Shanmukhanad Hall in a concert arranged to pay tribute to Indian ghazal legend Jagjit Sing on Friday whereas the hardliner party called for the concert's cancellation saying, "We can't have cultural ties with Pakistan when they kill our soldiers."
The organisers cancelled the Mumbai concert after the Shiv Sena threat.
“The cancellation does not affect me, I have always spread love and that shall not be affected by such controversies,” Ghulam Ali told NDTV’s Barkha Dutt during an interview after the announcement of cancellation.
"Jagjit Singh was like my brother and I wanted to pay tribute to him, this cancellation thing has hurt me," said the ghazal maestro.
Earlier in April, the legendary ghazal singer held a concert at the famous Sankat Mochan temple in Varanasi, Prime Minister Narendra Modi's constituency.
An invitation was sent to Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi but he expressed his inability to attend the festival due to his busy schedule.
“I must share that I have heard Ghulam Ali Sahab in the past that too in person,” Modi said in a tweet.
But later that month, pop artist Atif Aslam had to cancel his concert in Pune after having received threats Shiv Sena at a time when more than a thousand tickets for his concert had been sold which the organisers had to refund.
Shiv Sena, a hardline outfit founded by the late Bal Thackeray, has in the past threatened Pakistani athletes to deter them from engaging in competitive sports in India.
Thackeray often referred to Indian Muslims as “anti-nationals” and called for Hindu suicide squads to counter what he saw as a rise in ‘Islamic terrorism’.
