Ghulam Ali to perform in Delhi in December

New Delhi: Pakistani singer Ghulam Ali has accepted Delhi government’s invitation to perform in Delhi in December, Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal said on Friday, amid a row over cancellation of his events in Mumbai and Pune in the face of threats by the Shiv Sena.

The Delhi Chief Minister talked to the celebrated ghazal singer over phone on Friday morning and invited him to perform in Delhi.

“Ghulam Ali Sahib, we are very big fan of yours. It was good talking to you now. Thanks for agreeing to do a programme in Delhi in December,” Mr Kejriwal wrote on Twitter.

Later, Mr Ali said that he would be coming to Delhi in December, adding that he will go “wherever people invite me with love”.

“Yes I have accepted the invitation and most probably I will be coming in December. I have always said that I will go wherever people invite me with love. I have been coming to India for the past 40 years. So, yes I am happy,” Mr Ali said just before leaving India.

Earlier in the day, Delhi tourism minister Kapil Mishra met the Pakistani singer in New Delhi after which the Chief Minister spoke to him over phone.

On Thursday, the governments of West Bengal and Delhi had offered to host Mr Ali’s concert, saying music and culture have “no boundaries”, after two events were cancelled in Mumbai and Pune in the face of threats by the Shiv Sena.

Lashing both the Delhi and the West Bengal governments, the Shiv Sena,  in the editorial of its mouthpiece Saamana,  said, “Those who are keen to watch his performance should be taken to the homes of (Indian) soldiers killed at the borders to know their anguish.”

The party also sought to know if Pakistani artists ever condemned the attacks by their country on Indian soil.

“While the atrocities by Pakistan continue, people who like to listen to ghazals sung by Pakistani artists should be taken to the homes of soldiers killed by the neighbouring country at the border so that they can hear the anger of families of the jawans,” Saamana said.