The showmust go on

AAP shows there’s reason for hope

It speaks ill of a culture if trolls can prevent a leading musician from performing in its capital city, in an event backed by a body under a central ministry, only because he is a critic of the ruling party and its politics. But there is reason for hope, yet. When the Airports Authority of India (AAI) cancelled a festival it was sponsoring in Delhi because leading Carnatic singer T M Krishna, who was to perform there, was attacked by right-wing trolls, he offered to sing at any venue in the capital. And the Arvind Kejriwal-led AAP government in Delhi has promised to make it possible. This is as it should be — when one institution falters in the face of the mob, another should be there to pick up the baton.

Krishna has ired philistines by introducing traditional Christian hymns from the south into his repertoire. And he has got their backs up since he is an activist, championing various protest movements from the environmental to the political. He is a critic of the present dispensation, and the trolls have drawn attention to his political stance to brand him anti-Indian, and to deny him a venue paid for by a governmental organisation, with taxpayers’ money. It is fortunate, therefore, that the Delhi government has stepped in to ensure that Krishna’s audience can exercise the right to hear him, and he is assured of the right to be heard.