Shiv Sena’s no to Pak artistes’ concert hits NCP resistance

“I have personally spoken to the organisers and extended full support for the concert. Why should we bring politics in cultural events? We should encourage people-to-people contact between two countries. We should all work for peace in the region,” said Sunny Mankar, president of NCP’s Pune cultural unit.

The Shiv Sena hit back. Sena leader Vinayak Nimhan said, “When Pakistan is resorting to unprovoked firing on the border in which several of our soldiers

have become martyrs, why should we have any contact with such enemy country?”

When told that NCP is backing the concert, Nimhan sounded a threat, “Let them hold the concert…see what we will do.” Mankar said NCP will provide security to hold the concert.

“They (NCP) will run away from the place,” said Nimhan in reply. Mankar said NCP will stand firmly behind the organisers.

The city police said they had not denied permission for the programme and were ready to provide security. Deputy commissioner of police (Zone IV) Manoj Patil said, “We have not denied permission. We are ready to provide security arrangements if the organisers have received all the required permission from authorities concerned.”

The Sena said it has given a letter to the police to deny permission for the concert.

Amid this tug-of-war, the organisers seem to have developed cold feet in a bid to avoid any

controversy. There is confusion over whether the event will take place or not.

The concert of artistes Atif Aslam and Badshah titled “Global Strings Music Festival” had been planned as a joint event by Anjaneya Sathe Group and Ecstasy Business Solutions. It was scheduled at Amanora Park Town for April 25, Tuesday.

A representative of Anjaneya Sathe Group, unwilling to be named, said that three days back, the group was approached by Shiv Sena members asking them to cancel the event or face the consequences. “In view of Sena stand as well as safety of fans of the artistes, we decided to cancel the event. We didn’t want any untoward incident to happen on the day of the event in Pune and hence we took a step back,” she said.

However, a representative of Amanora Park Town, where the event was going to be held, said that their office hasn’t received any mail or call from organisers about cancellation of the event. He said that one person had booked the premises for April 25 on the name of Global Strings Festival and paid Rs 50,000 as booking amount. “On Tuesday, he sent us the permission letter for the event received from Mantralaya. However, he didn’t submit the permission letter of the local police… We are only hearing from various channels that the event is called off; he hasn’t told us so. Our concern is only with the permissions; if the other party is providing all required permissions, we will allow them to go ahead with the event,” he said.