Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday faced a huge backlash as he landed in Tamil Nadu to lay the foundation of All India Institute of Medical Sciences in Madurai. His visit to Tamil Nadu kickstarted an unprecedented Twitter war with his opponents launching a #GoBackModi and #GoBackSadistModi campaign with both hashtags receiving hundreds of thousands of tweets. The anger against Modi did not remain confined to Twitter. Chennai Police in the evening intervened to stop members of a local band from performing a song that said Modi was a fraud.
Band Casteless Collective was performing a song ‘Modi Mastaan’ at the Chennai Kalai Theru Vizhain in the evening when a cop was seen objecting to the reference of Modi as someone who cheats.
This was just a song but it had the word #Modi – so @chennaipolice_ had to intervene. I think in UP they will allow this to happen but not in #Chennai @tcl_collective #ChennaiKalaiTheruVizha pic.twitter.com/aleHMLyZnB
— Shabbir Ahmed (@Ahmedshabbir20) January 27, 2019
One of the organisers said that the cop had specifically taken objection to members of the band singing a song about Modi. “You are not supposed to sing about Mr Modi. We said it may have been Lalit Modi, Nirav Modi. Which Modi has sold the country?” he said.
Chennai police asking @tcl_collective to stop singing ‘political songs’ at the Chennai Kalai Theru Vizha. #FoE @dhanyarajendran pic.twitter.com/ZSBFIGDgtg
— Manasa Rao (@manasarao) January 27, 2019
Earlier in the day, famous Carnatic singer TM Krishna had tweeted about the evening’s event, which was also expected to include a performance by Chinmayi Sripada.
Do not miss these performances this evening ( 27th Jan, 6 pm) at @ Besant Nagar beach #Chennai
near Thalapakatti, opp SPACES. @Chinmayi @tcl_collective pic.twitter.com/je07fFkgBi— T M Krishna (@tmkrishna) January 27, 2019
Sub Inspector A Selvakumar was quoted by NewsMinute website, “This is a cultural programme. They asked permission (to perform) without any communal or caste-wise discrimination. That’s the basis on which they took permission.”
Modi has been facing stiff opposition in Tamil Nadu since last year, when angry protesters had shown him black flags during his visit to the state. Such was the intesnity of the protest that Modi was forced to cancel his road show and instead take helicopter to reach the function venue in Chennai because of the growing protests against him.
People in Tamil Nadu are angry with Modi for his refusal to visit the state when it was ravaged by cyclone Gaja that left more than 3 lakh people homeless last year. The cyclone had also crippled the lives of a large swathe of the state’s population. More than 11 lakh tress too were uprooted by nature’s fury.
