Controversy erupts over ‘Ishwar Allah tero naam’ bhajan at Vajpayee tribute event in
Controversy erupts over ‘Ishwar Allah tero naam’ bhajan at Vajpayee tribute event in Patna
M.U.H
27/12/202425
PATNA: In an unexpected incident, renown folk singer Devi was stopped from singing Mahatma Gandhi's favourite Bhajan, Ishwar Allah tero naam and allegedly forced to apologise at a function by BJP workers at Bapu Sabhagar auditorium in the state capital to celebrate the 100th birth anniversary of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.
Former Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who had organised the event along with the NGO Dinker Shodh Sansthan, said the incident “should not have happened.”
Around 50 protesters soon resorted to sloganeering after the singer Devi started singing. Shocked and bemused, she later apologised. Former Union Minister Ashwini Choubey also intervened to save the situation from an ugly turn. Following the apology, Choubey along with the audience chanted "Jai Shri Ram" in full volume.
The event, titled 'Main Atal Rahunga', was organised to recall the contributions of Vajpayee on the occasion of his birth anniversary. Apart from Choubey, other top leaders present at the event were Dr CP Thakur, Sanjay Paswan, and Shahnawaz Hussain Bihar BJP spokesperson Kuntal Krishna claimed that RJD was behind the disturbances at the function.
Devi told newspersons that she was invited to get felicitated at the event and organisers requested her to sing a bhajan.
“As we had gathered to commemorate Vajpayee ji, I thought it befitting to sing Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan, Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram,” she said.
“But when I started singing the stanza beginning with ‘Ishwar Allah tero naam’, there was a protest from a section of the audience. I had to stop the song immediately, Mahatma Gandhi’s favourite bhajan that has been sung and heard across the world with utmost respect. What happened was unfortunate,” she remarked.
Political slugfest
Reacting sharply to the protest, RJD chief Lalu Prasad remarked, “Sanghis and BJP people hate the name and slogan of ‘Jai Siyaram, Jai Sitaram’ because it has the praise of Mother Sita. These people are anti-women from the very beginning and with the slogan of ‘Jai Shri Ram’ they insult half of the population, women."
He added that on Wednesday, "singer Devi sang Bapu's bhajan in the auditorium built in his name and said ‘Sita Ram’, then the petty BJP members made her apologise on the mic and made her chant Jai Shri Ram instead of Jai Sita Ram. Why do these Sanghis insult women including "Sita Mata?"
Bihar Congress said that Prime Minister Narendra Modi is bending before Gandhi sculptures in India and overseas and that BJP leaders in Bihar are offended by the Bhajans he sang.
Former union minister Shahnawaz Hussain said: “I had quoted Atal ji during my address. He used to say, ‘chhote dil se koi bada nahi hota (no one makes it big with a small heart).’ The protest of the bhajan is the height of intolerance. I felt too embarrassed and ashamed.”
Former union minister and BJP leader Sanjay Paswan described the protest against the bhajan as inappropriate. He said, “We are living in a world of assimilative ideologies of GLAD (Gandhi, Lohia, Ambedkar and Deendayal Upadhyay)."
