20 hours Ago
There were dramatic scenes yesterday during a folk singer's performance of the bhajan "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram" at a Patna event commemorating the birth centenary of former prime minister late Atal Bihari Vajpayee. Devi, a folk singer, was performing "Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram," which is highly related to Mahatma Gandhi, when a few audience began to object. The singer modified the lines, replacing "Ishwar Allah Tero Naam" with "Shri Raghunandan Jai Siya Ram, Janaki Vallabh Sita Ram", but the protest continued.
One man on stage whispered something into the singer's ear at one point. To clarify, she stopped singing and said, "God belongs to all of us, and I intended to remember Ram." An organiser stepped in, chanting "Jai Shri Ram" and said, "Her intention was right.
" The audience's cries soon became louder, forcing Devi to apologise. "I sang this song for Lord Ram. You know our Indian culture is large-hearted.
Hindus are the only ones who accept everyone. You must not get hurt by this song. If you are hurt, I want to say sorry," she said.
ALSO READ: Rajasthan’s Three-Year-Old Girl Trapped In Borewell For Over 70 Hours, A Look At Rescue Ops To Bring Out Chetna From 700-Foot Borewell The folk singer said, "Hinduism teaches that people from every religion are our family, we believe in Vasudhaiva Kutumbakam. Jai Shri Ram." After that, Ms Devi sang a Chhath song by the legendary singer Padma Bhushan Sharda Sinha, who passed away recently.
She left the event shortly after that. The folk singer told the media later, "Hinduism is a religion that accepts everybody. Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs and Christians are brothers.
We must embrace humanity. I believe humanity is the biggest religion. But many people here did not like the word 'Allah', maybe they did not listen properly.
Ishwar, Allah are different names of God." She acknowledged that they are her fans, but mentioned that sometimes even a small word can hurt someone. She expressed regret if anyone was hurt and emphasised the importance of embracing the religion of humanity.
"Main Atal Rahunga" event was held in Patna's Bapu Auditorium to honour the BJP stalwart and freedom fighter and Hindu Mahasabha founder Madan Mohan Malviya. Political Debate Erupts Over Incident The incident has ignited a political debate, with the opposition RJD and the Congress blaming the ruling BJP. The Bihar Congress said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bending before Gandhi sculptures in India and overseas, and that BJP leaders in Bihar are offended by the Bhajans he sang.
RJD MP Manoj Kumar Jha said that if this favourite bhajan of Gandhi riles people up, "we are travelling in a bottomless well and there is no ray of light". Shahnawaz Hussain, who had been the youngest Cabinet colleague of Vajpayee, said: “I had quoted Atal ji during my address. He used to say, ‘chhote dil se koi bada nahi hota (no one makes it big with a small heart)’.
The protest of the bhajan is the height of intolerance. I felt too embarrassed and ashamed.” Sanjay Paswan described the protest against the bhajan as inappropriate.
He said, “We are living in world of assimilative ideologies of GLAD (Gandhi, Lohia, Ambedkar and Deendayal Upadhyay).”.
