Hundreds gather for Krishna's concert in Delhi

Hundreds of Delhiites, including Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal, his deputy Manish Sisodia and CPI (M) head Sitaram Yechury, gathered at the Garden of Five Senses on Saturday as a performance by Carnatic musician T.M. Krishna brought together the two ends of music and politics together after an earlier cancellation of a scheduled event.

Krishna in his music brought various languages and religions together for the audience of all age groups. His music included Kabir, Lord Krishna, Jesus in languages ranging from Kannad, Hindi and Malayalam.

Refusing to speak much, Krishna, before the performance, said: "The spirit of the day has transformed over the few days and keeping with the spirit, I will try and see if we can see multiple voices, languages, traditions, religion in the concert. I will not speak much."

A concert featuring Krishna, scheduled for Saturday was postponed by the Airports Authority of India (AAI) on Tuesday in controversial circumstances following vicious trolling on social media by rightwing elements.

The Delhi government, who had approached Krishna for long, stepped in and offered him to perform for their cultural event -- Awam Ki Awaz.

"The country belongs to all -- Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, Jains and also to Tamilians, Malayalis, Punjabis, Gujarati, Bengalis and others," said Kejriwal.

" I can't think of any other country with so much diversity, so many languages and religions. This is our speciality. We should preserve it," Kejriwal said.

He also thanked Sisodia for arranging things in just two days.

Thanking people for their presence, Sisodia said: "Your presence is a political statement to save the diversity of the country."

Krishna has carved a niche for himself by taking Carnatic music, long held as a preserve of the elite, to the masses. He has been a critic of the Modi regime and a regular target of rightwing trolls on social media. Several of his concerts in recent times have seen last-moment changes by organisers.

--IANS

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