New Delhi, August 14, 2017: Mika Singh performed in Houston and Chicago on August 12 and 13 respectively to celebrate Pakistan and India's Independence Day. He received a lot of criticism for it from Indian- American public, Indian politicians, twitter world and the FIA).
Earlier, the organizers of the show posted a video of Mika talking about his performance in which he said that he's looking forward to celebrating the Independence Day of India and Pakistan. He said, "15 August ko humara Hindustan azaad hua tha aur 14 ko humara Pakistan," The 40-year-old singer drew criticism for saying 'humara Pakistan' and evoked angry twitter reactions- "Shame on you. Are you celebrating Pakistani Day? Do you know how many of our Army Jawans are being killed by Pakistan?" a user tweeted.
FIA is a non-profit umbrella organization of other Indian associations in the Chicago land and Mid-West area for the Indian community. Iftikaar Shareef, Trustee Chairman FIA said, "We will not tolerate you (Mika Singh) participating in Pakistan's Independence Day." He also said that if he's coming to Chicago he should better be prepared for actions taken by them. As per a collective vote, he said that Mika is not welcome to Chicago if he goes to Houston. Kanti N. Patel, president of FIA said, "We should oppose Mika Singh's performance as Indians." They said that they will protest if he performs in Houston for Pakistan's Independence Day and then comes to Chicago to celebrate Indian Independence Day.
WATCH THE VIDEO: FIA Press Conference Condemning Mika Singh
The federation includes groups like Indo-American Association of Greater Houston, India Culture Center, India House, Gujarati Samaj of Houston, Graduate Indian Student Organization of the University of Houston and Patanjali Yogpeeth. "We have a strained relationship (with Pakistan)… If he has any sense of patriotism, he should cancel this concert. Money is not everything in life. Country comes first always," said Col (rtd) Vipin Kumar, executive director India House Inc who wanted the concert to be canceled.
Amee Patel, president of Gujrat Samaj, Houston, said: "As an organization of Indian-origin (people), we fully stand behind our flag and our other Indian community organizations in protesting against this event and we do not support this event in any fashion." Swapan Dhairyawan, a community activist and former president of the India Culture Centre, said that it would not have been an issue if the artist was performing for a regular concert. But he emphasized it as a celebration of Pakistan's Independence Day and saying in his viral video 'Humara Pakistan' is unforgivable and unfortunate.
Indian Americans in large numbers strongly criticized the ill-timed video and expressed their anger towards the statement that the show is a joint celebration. They said that the video comes across as a 'cruel joke' in the wake of the ceasefire violations by Pakistan along the LoC, resulting in deaths of many innocent civilians and the armed forces personnel.
According to a PTI report, Ramesh Shah, an Indian-American philanthropist said "Celebrating India's Independence Day is for those who believe in India and its freedom and democracy…It can never happen with Pakistan, and not when they are sponsoring and supporting Pakistani terrorists on the Indian soil."
Mika Singh also drew the ire of several political parties. Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) Chitrapat Sena Chief Amey Khopkar tweeted, "Mika Singh is doing Hamara Pakistan concert in USA. Open challenge to him, try holding a mic (microphone) in Maharashtra now," The MNS leader said that he would write to CM Devendra Fadnavis seeking suitable action against the singer for his unpatriotic remarks.
Later, on August 12, MNS staged protests in Mumbai, Pune and Nashik, burned the Pakistani flag and effigies of Mika. Congress leader Sanjay Nirupam said, "He should know that the Pakistan which he is praising is our enemy. Pakistan always plans and plots against India and to praise such a country is incorrect." Nirupam has asked Mika to apologize for his shameful act and to withdraw his statement. Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut also spoke on this issue and said that the artists should not compromise on patriotism over commercial benefits.
India and Pakistan are not on good terms and there is a lot of tension between the two countries so this is not a correct time for an Indian artist to perform in Pakistan, celebrating their Independence Day when after the 2016 Uri attack all the Pakistani artists were banned to work in India. Twitter users criticized Mika Singh:
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