Ghulam Ali to face worse fate than Sudheendra Kulkarni: Shiv Sena

“We will not only paint face of Ghulam Ali black but make his condition worse than Sudheendra Kulkarni if he landed in Lucknow to perform at the Mahotsav,” said UP Shiv Sena president Anil Singh.

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Singh added that the Sena would “keep watch on Ali’s movement” from Delhi and try to stop him from reaching Lucknow. “Even if he reaches here somehow, Shiv Sainiks will oppose him at the programme venue and will not let him perform. The UP government is inviting Ghulam Ali only for its politics of appeasement of Muslims,” he said.

His suggestion to the government is to “replace Ali with any other ghazal singer of our own country.”

Singh claimed that since the Sena’s national leadership has “already decided not to allow any Pakistani player or performer to visit the country,” the party’s UP unit would follow the same principle and oppose Ali’s programme in Lucknow.

After Ali confirmed his participation on Wednesday, the Lucknow district administration released a letter Thursday in this regard.

Asserting that “art does not know or care about boundaries”, Lucknow District Magistrate Raj Shekhar said, “Ghulam Ali ji is a renowned personality in the field of art, and the general public of Lucknow regards him and appreciates his art. Such an event should not be associated with any unnecessary controversy.”

On Sena’s threat to disrupt the programme, he said that “adequate arrangement” will be made to avoid any unwanted situation.

‘Send SRK to Pakistan’

While Shiv Sena MP and spokesperson Sanjay Raut on Wednesday had said that actor Shah Rukh Khan should not be targeted only because he is a Muslim, the party’s Uttar Pradesh chief, Anil Singh, said that the actor should be sent to Pakistan, and recommended the Narendra Modi-led central government to “investigate Shah Rukh’s links with terrorist Hafiz Saeed and sources of income that he had used to purchase properties abroad.

“Shah Rukh’s love for Pakistan is well known and he has made controversial remarks in the past as well. His films should be boycotted in India,” Singh said. He informed that Raut will visit Lucknow some time this month to felicitate over a dozen party workers who have won the zila panchayat elections for the first time and 115 others who won BDC polls. -ENS