An alleged troll campaign by right wingers against TM Krishnan has forced the organizers to cancel an event where the carnatic musician was supposed to perform. 

The two-day event jointly organized by Airports Authority of India (AAI) and Society for Promotion of Indian Classical Music and Culture Amongst Youth (SPIC-MACAY) was to be held in New Delhi on November 17 and 18, as part of the “Dance and Music in the Park” festival at Nehru Park.

On November 5, the Airports Authority of India (AAI) announced on Twitter that it would be organizing the event in association with the cultural body SPIC-MACAY and a few days later, announced Krishna’s performance.

#AAI & @spicmacay are gearing up to conduct the second edition of 'Dance & Music in the Park,' scheduled to be held on 17th-18th November 2018 from 6 PM onwards at Nehru Park, New Delhi. pic.twitter.com/E7YXCja8ED

— Airports Authority of India (@AAI_Official) November 5, 2018

#AAI cordially invites you to a Carnatic vocal performance by @tmkrishna who will be accompanied by R.K. Shriramkumar on violin, Praveen Sparsh on Mridangam & Anirudh Athreya on Kanjira - on 17th November in the 2nd edition of 'Dance & Music in the Park' at Nehru Park, Delhi. pic.twitter.com/8ZiUd4n2xC

— Airports Authority of India (@AAI_Official) November 10, 2018

 

When Krishna tweeted AAI’s invitation on Monday, trolls against India’s premier aviation body went viral accusing them of inviting a person who sings about ‘Jesus and Allah’ and also called the singer ‘anti-national’, ‘urban Naxal’ among others things. The trolls also tagged senior government bodies such as Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal and Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu asking them on whether they knew who were sponsoring.

He wants to sing for Jesus and Allah by tweaking great composition of saints like Thyagaraja and annamayya. If he is so keen why not he himself writes songs in praise of Jesus and Allah

— ಕರ್ನಾಟಾ (@VinayMysuru) November 12, 2018

 

Do you know he is ardent hater of PM @narendramodi ji and disses Hindus, @BJP4India and RSS at any given chance? Why wasting tax payers money and precious time of employees of @AAI_Official ? Are you aware of this @jayantsinha @MoCA_GoI ? @BJP4India #DisinviteTMKrishna pic.twitter.com/8wNRGII4BP

— Gayathri (@igayathri9) November 13, 2018

According to a report by Indian Express, on the night of November 12, AAI informed SPIC-MACAY via email that the concert was called off. The email stated that the concert can’t happen due to some ‘exigencies of work’ and the concert be postponed till a new date is fixed.

We would like to inform that due to some urgent engagements, 'Dance and Music in the Park' programme jointly organized by #AAI and @spicmacay, scheduled for 17th & 18th November, 2018 has been postponed and new dates would be shared shortly. Inconvenience caused is regretted.

— Airports Authority of India (@AAI_Official) November 14, 2018

 

However, AAI chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra denied that the concert was postponed due to the criticism received for allowing Krishna to perform and cited that it was due to some emergency issue that the concert has been temporarily cancelled.

Krishna mentioned that though SPIC-MACAY informed him on Tuesday that AAI had promised the cultural organisation that it would ignore the tweets and hold the concert with additional security. However, the AAI on Wednesday decided to postpone the concert.  He also said that he is ready to perform anywhere in the national capital on November 17. “We just can’t let ourselves be cowed down by this kind of threats,” he added.

Apart from Krishna, sitarist Shahid Parvez Khan and dancers Sonal Mansingh and Priyadarsini Govind were to perform at the event.

Krishna’s views on secularism and caste prejudice in music have made him a target of right wing factions. In August, a Maryland temple cancelled his concert, supposedly after Hindutva advocates accused him of singing Christian hymns.

In January this year, a Hindu right-wing group had threatened to disrupt his concert in Tirupur, Tamil Nadu, but it was held under tight security. The 42-year-old singer is considered one of the finest Carnatic musicians in the world. A