Singer Zubeen Garg, Whose Voice Powered BJP's Poll Win, Booked for 'Insulting' Bharat Ratna in Assam

Coolan

Editor

posted on 5 years ago — updated on 1 second ago

42
views

The case was registered against the singer for allegedly using 'unparliamentary' language and defaming India’s highest civilian honour, in an audio clip doing the rounds on WhatsApp.

Guwahati: Assamese singer Zubeen Garg, whose campaign song was credited for the BJP’s win in 2016 Assembly elections, has now been booked for allegedly insulting the Bharat Ratna award amid crippling protests against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill in the state.

The FIR, filed after an audio clip went viral on WhatsApp, says the singer used “unparliamentary” language and defamed India’s highest civilian honour. In the clip, Garg is purportedly heard singing his new song Politics Na Karibo Bandhu (Don’t Do Politics, My Friend), before allegedly using an abusive term for the Bharat Ratna.

The FIR was registered at the Lanka Police Station in Hojai district of Assam on Saturday by Satya Ranjan Borah, State Vice President of the BJP, Kisan Morcha, Assam. “I don’t have any personal problem with Zubeen Garg, but the way he has been behaving cannot be accepted for a healthy and cultured Assamese society,” Borah wrote in a Facebook post.

Borah claimed that Garg also insulted the late singer Bhupen Hazarika, who has been posthumously awarded the Bharat Ratna, in his song.

The FIR has been lodged for “defaming, disrespecting and insulting nation’s highest recognition the Bharat Ratna and defaming and insulting voice and pride of Assam late Bhupen Hazarika accordingly with some unparliamentary and anti-social words,” Borah said in the post.

Zubeen Garg was the voice of the BJP’s election campaign song in Assam in 2016. On January 14, the singer offered to return his fee to the party in protest against the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. He had also written to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal earlier, demanding that the BJP “surrender the votes” it procured because of the song he sang.

Assam has been witnessing large-scale protests against the bill which seeks to grant citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years, even if they do not possess the necessary documents.