Shimla: A recent performance by Sabri brothers at the International Mandi Shivratri fair — an event organised by the Himachal Pradesh government — has come under criticism from the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) which sought an apology from the ruling Congress party for allegedly hurting sentiments of the Hindus.
The opposition party put out a series of tweets with a video showing the Sufi singers from the cultural event that took place on the evening of 19 February. On its part, the Congress asserted that the BJP leaders “did not do their homework well”.
“After winning the elections, the Congress leaders had said that we have defeated Hindutva, is this act a proof of that? What does the Congress want to prove by singing the Qawwali of Allah Hu in the Devbhoomi where Hindu population is 97%, where Shivratri is of international standard, which is called Chhoti Kashi? (sic),” the BJP state unit tweeted from its official handle Monday.
चुनाव मे जीतने पर कांग्रेस नेताओं ने कहा था कि हमने हिंदुत्व को हरा दिया, क्या ये हरकत उसी का प्रमाण है?
जिस देवभूमि मे हिंदू आबादी 97% हो,जहां की शिवरात्रि अंतर्राष्ट्रीय स्तर की हो,जिसे छोटी काशी कहा जाता हो वहां पर अल्लाह हू की कव्वाली गवाकर क्या सिद्ध करना चाहती है कांग्रेस? pic.twitter.com/b2XzhZJ1xQ
— BJP Himachal Pradesh (@BJP4Himachal) February 20, 2023
The opposition party also sought to give out the message that it was not against any religion but the choice of state as it was “done in a Hindu festival”. ““The state Congress government should apologise for hurting Hindu sentiments,” it added.
But the opposition party was seemingly caught in a tricky situation after a video clip emerged Tuesday in which the qawals purportedly sang the same set of songs at International Kullu Dussehra on October 7 last year.
On Tuesday noon, an invitation card purportedly from International Kullu Dussehra 2022 also went viral showing the schedule of the event. The card had the names of the Sabri brothers too. Back then, Jairam Thakur headed a BJP government in Himachal Pradesh.
The BJP state unit went ahead to raise its pet issue despite party national president J. P. Nadda advising the party lawmakers in a virtual meeting on 17 February to refrain from harping on narratives that could be perceived as polarising and instead focus on development.
Calls to BJP leaders authorised to speak with the media went unattended.
A senior BJP leader, however, conceded that the party has to think about the episode as “tweeting or Facebook posts on every issue won’t earn anything for the party”.
The Congress leader mentioned earlier said it was not going all out against the rival party for avoiding any further controversy. “The BJP is in a hurry to cook up some allegations and attack the Congress. They (BJP leaders) certainly did not do the homework,” a Congress leader said, adding that the party was not willing to get back at the rival party as “it would only escalate the issue.”
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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