An unexpected incident took place during an event in Patna to commemorate the life of former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee when renonwed folk singer Devi was disrupted while she was performing her rendition of the bhajan 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram'. A protest erupted when the singer sang the lines "Ishwar Allah tero naam (Ishwar and Allah are your names)", a phrase closely associated with Mahatma Gandhi. This forced her to stop mid-song.
The incident drew criticism from several prominent leaders including BJP leader and former Union minister under Vajpayee, Shahnawaz Hussain, who called the disruption "the height of intolerance".
Former Union minister Ashwini Kumar Choubey, who organised the event to honour Vajpayee, condemned the incident along with the NGO Dinker Shodh Sansthan, saying it "should not have happened".
Nearly 50 protestors disrupted the event 'Main Atal Rahunga', held at the Bapu Sabhagar auditorium in Patna to recall the contributions of the former PM on the occasion of his birth anniversary. The protestors are yet to be identified.
Besides Choubey, who also served as a minister in Vajpayee's government, there were three others who were Union ministers in the former PM's cabinet. These included Dr C P Thakur, Sanjay Paswan, and Shahnawaz Hussain.
Reacting to the incident at the event, folk singer Devi told The Indian Express that she was left dismayed when people protested against Gandhi's bhajan.
She said the organisers had asked her to sing a bhajan at the event and she chose 'Raghupati Raghav Raja Ram' as she felt it was perfect to commemorate Vajpayee.
"I was also also invited to get felicitated on the occasion. There was a request from the organisers 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.
Explaining how the interruptions began as she started singing the bhajan, Devi said: "But when I started singing the stanza beginning, ‘Ishwar Allah tero naam’, there was a protest from a section of the audience. I had to stop the song immediately. After Ashwini Kumar Choubey pacified the crowd, I sang a Chhath song… But I was dismayed at the protest against Gandhi’s favourite bhajan that has been sung and heard across the world with utmost respect. What happened was unfortunate.”
"I sang this song for Lord Ram. You know our Indian culture is large-hearted. Hindus are the only ones who accept everyone. You must not get hurt by this song. If you are hurt, I want to say sorry," NDTV quoted her as saying.
Shahnawaz Hussain, the youngest Cabinet member at the time of Vajpayee's tenure stated he was "too embarassed and ashamed" due to the protest.
"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," he said.
Sanjay Paswan also condemned the protest against the bhajan, calling it "unacceptable". "We are living in world of assimilative ideologies of GLAD (Gandhi, Lohia, Ambedkar and Deendayal Upadhyay)," the report quoted Paswan as saying.
Choubey condemned the incident at the Patna event and remarked: "What happened should not have happened. It was not at all what civility demands. I had said the same thing from the stage while trying to pacify the crowd."