BJP rebuffs Sena on Ghulam Ali

THIRUVANANTHAPURAM: The BJP has opposed Shiv Sena’s demands for cancelling Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali’s concerts in Thiruvananthapuram and Kozhikode on January 15 and 17.
The party’s state general secretary K Surendran called “mixing poison” in art and literature “akin to giving weapons to enemies’’ in a Facebook post on Wednesday,.
Surendran said Shiv Sena has freedom to choose its way of protest, but called burning of Ali’s effigy despicable.
“The protest against Ghulam Ali’s concert is condemnable. It is against our culture to link the concert with Pakistani terrorist attack on India,” he said.
Surendran said he was sure people in Kozhikode would wholeheartedly receive the world-renowned singer. “I cannot take a stand, based on the colour of the flag of the organizers. There is no caste, religion or nationality for music.’’
Surendran’s Facebook post had attracted over 4,000 likes and 600 shares within an hour.
Ali’s concert in Mumbai in October was cancelled following Shiv Sena’s protests.