The BJP-Trinamool tussle in West Bengal escalated with Arijit Singh’s concert being shifted out of its earlier venue because of G20 events, which the BJP attributed to his ‘Gerua’ song at the inauguration of the Kolkata International Film Festival. Gerua meaning saffron earned Arijit the wrath of the anti-saffron administration, the BJP alleged to which the Trinamool responded by saying that there is no ‘gerua’ controversy, only the Leader of Opposition (Suvendu Adhikari) is ‘gira hua‘. Trinamool MP and national general secretary Abhishek Banerjee amid this row published his 2022 favourite song list too which featured three songs by Arijit Singh — Kesariya, Atak Gaya and a Bengali song Oboseshe.
Calling Arijit Singh the pride of Bengal, Trinamool state general secretary Kunal Ghosh said Arijit sang the Gerua song on December 15 but the concert at the proposed event was cancelled eight days before that and he was given another spot which his team booked before the singer performed ‘Rang de tu mohe gerua‘ at the film festival. “So how can Gerua be a factor? Actually, LOP is gira hua,” Kunal Ghosh tweeted.
In a long Facebook post, Kunal Ghosh clarified that Arijit’s concert has not been cancelled but only shifted out of Eco Park. An inspection has been done in the new spot Aquatica. Another such event of Salman Khan has also been moved out of Eco Park to Milan Mela. “But there was no controversy over it,” Kunal Ghosh added.
The inauguration event of the Kolkata International Film Festival triggered several BJP versus Trinamool face-offs as Amitabh Bachchan, Shah Rukh Khan touched upon controversial issues like liberty, social media negativity etc in their respective speeches — amid the row over Pathaan. Arijit Singh’s performance of ‘Rang de tu mohe gerua‘ only added to that.
The administration maintained that the concert was cancelled at Eco Park because of G20 events. “Arijit Singh’s concert had to be cancelled as there will be a large number of national and international guests at a G20 meeting at Biswa Bangla Convention Centre near Eco Park around the same time. Police cited security issues and we went by their recommendation,” Hakim said.
Eco Park is an urban park in New Town, maintained by government body HIDCO, Aquatica is a non-government private water-themed park. Milan Mela, where Salman Khan’s event is likely to be held, is a permanent fairground in Kolkata, maintained by the state government.
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