 "What's wrong if celebrities make their political choice public?")
The latest celebrity to face ire from political parties is the Nightingale of India — as India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru had named her. At a recent function in Pune, melody queen Lata Deenanath Mangeshkar had said: “Narendrabhai is like my brother. It is my wish and everybody’s wish that Narendra Modi becomes the Prime Minister. May God fulfil all his wishes.”
The moot question is: can Lata Mangeshkar claim to speak for everybody in the country? Let’s assume, for argument's sake, that when she said ‘everybody’, she meant it metaphorically, perhaps meaning people who thought like her. The bigger question is: why the legendary singer cannot make her choice public?
Political pundits say the Congress party is not happy with Lata Mangeshkar as she threw her weight behind a politician who feels India’s destiny would have been different had Sardar Patel been made the first Prime Minister.
Political pundits say the Congress party is not happy with Lata Mangeshkar as she threw her weight behind a politician who feels India’s destiny would have been different had Sardar Patel been made the first Prime Minister.
Aimed at Lata Mangeshkar for backing Modi as the Prime Minister, Mumbai Congress chief Janardan Chandurkar has demanded that artists who publicly back political leaders should be stripped of their Padma awards.
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Analysts say that by hinting that Lata Mangeshkar should be stripped of her awards for expressing her approval of Modi as the prime ministerial candidate, the Congress leader seems to be suggesting that anybody who receives the awards must give up the right to think, speak and have an opinion.
Political parties must realise that civilian awards are conferred for excellence: they are not given away as mere gifts. It is high time that civilian awards and honours are freed from the clutches of political leaderships.
Political parties must realise that civilian awards are conferred for excellence: they are not given away as mere gifts. It is high time that civilian awards and honours are freed from the clutches of political leaderships.
Critics hit out at the Grand Old Party. What is this if not dictatorship? That either you are with us or against us, and if you are against us, return the awards. Does the Congress believe in the freedom of speech? The BJP as well as Shiv Sena have seized its chance to pan the Congress’s vindictive politics.
In 1999, the melody queen was nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government.
In July this year, Bharatiya Janata Party's (BJP) Rajya Sabha MP Chandan Mitra had demanded that Nobel laureate Amartya Sen be stripped of his Bharat Ratna for saying that he would not like to see Modi as the country's next Prime Minister. Mincing no words, the economist declared Modi “unfit” to hold the Prime Minister’s office principally because of the 2002 Gujarat riots.
India’s highest civilian honour was conferred on Sen in 1999 by the NDA. Political observers say that then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee disregarded objections from the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS) the BJP against Sen’s ‘Left-leaning opinions’, went ahead and chose the economist for the award.
The political atmosphere of India has become so tainted that even prominent personalities are drawn into the political mud-slinging. The national parties as well as their heavyweight leaders should understand that in a democracy, all have the right to express their views.