Row over Hyderabad BJP MLA 'copying' Pakistani song

Telangana's lone BJP MLA Raja Singh landed himself in embarrassment after the Pakistan Army accused him of copying their song but he stood defiant saying he did not have to copy anything from a "terrorist state".

"Good to see even #Pakistan media is covering my song #HindustanZindabad. I'm more surprised that even a terrorist nation produces singers. #Pakistani singer's may have copied my song, we don't have to copy anything from a terrorist state like Pakistan," Singh said in a tweet.

Spokesperson of the Pakistan Armed Forces, Major General Asif Ghafoor, who in his tweet on Sunday had accused the BJP legislator of copying the song, responded to Singh on Monday, saying: "Pakistani media isn't covering the 'so called' song. In rest of the world, this is called something else..."

"Glad that you copied. But copy to speak the truth as well. #PakistanZindabad," Asif Ghafoor had earlier tweeted from his personal handle, ridiculing the MLA for replacing 'Pakistan Zindabad' in the song with 'Hindustan Zindabad'.

Singh, who represents the Goshamahal constituency in Hyderabad, had announced that his new song was dedicated to the Indian armed forces and will be released on the occasion of Ram Navami on Sunday. He had posted the video of his song on April 12.

A few hours before the legislator was to release his song in a procession in Hyderabad, Ghafoor tweeted that he copied it.

Singh's video and Pakistani Army spokesman's tweet went viral with many people on social media also sharing the original Pakistani song "Dil ki himmat watan... apna jazba watan. Man ki sacchi lagan... seedha rasta watan" sung by Sahir Ali Bagga.

The Pakistani song was released on March 23 on the occasion of Pakistan Day by the Inter-Services Public Relations, the media wing of the Pakistani Army.

The legislator dropped his plans to release the song after it sparked the plagiarism row.

--IANS

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