A concert by T M Krishna, a carnatic musician, which was scheduled to be held in Delhi on Saturday (November 17) was called off after an aggressive campaign by right-wing trolls was launched calling him anti-India and anti-national.
Krishna was to perform at a two-day “Dance and Music in the Park” festival at Nehru Park, Chanakyapuri, jointly organised by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) and the cultural body, SPIC-MACAY.
AAI had intimated about the event on November 5 by taking to its official Twitter handle. “#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,” it had tweeted.
#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
Following this, AAI posted another tweet on November 10 announcing about Krishna’s performance. “#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,” it had announced.
#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
The tweet was retweeted by Krishna and what followed after it was a series of comments by right-wing trolls asking AAI to cancel the event. Condemning the move of inviting Krishna, the trolls called him by names such as “urban naxal”, “converted bigot” and “anti-India.”
These are some of the comments received on the AAI’s tweet announcing Krishna’s performance.
On Wednesday, AAI again took to its Twitter to inform that the event has been called off and that new dates would be shared shortly.
“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,” it tweeted.
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
Krishna’s attempts to increase the reach of carnatic music by incorporating hymns in praise of Christ and Allah has invited wrath of Hindu right-wing activists.