Carnatic musician TM Krishna's concert in Delhi has been cancelled after right-wing groups trolled him on social media calling him a converted bigot, urban-Naxal, pro-Christians and anti-India.
Hitting back at the trolls, the Carnatic musician said, "Give me a stage anywhere in Delhi on November 17, I will come and sing. We just can't let ourselves be cowed down by this kind of threats."
On November 10, the Airport Authorities of India had tweeted that Krishna would be participating in a two-day "Dance and Music in the Park" festival at Nehru Park in Chanakyapuri. The event is organised by the AAI and SPIC-MACAY.
Krishna had retweeted this, inviting many right-wingers to target him with the hashtag #DisinviteTMKrishna.
The Twitterati had also tagged senior government officials including Prime Minister Narendra Modi, Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu and Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal.
After the hate tweets grew, the authorities were told to provide extra security to Krishna.
However, AAI's chairman Guruprasad Mohapatra denied the speculations that the show was cancelled due to the backlash it received for inviting Krishna.
He told Indian Express, "We have some issues. Some exigency has come up and we are not free that day. Whatever note we have given in the media, that is all, there is nothing more I want to say on this."
Krishna was reassured on Tuesday that the show will go on as planned. However, on Wednesday, he was informed that the show had been postponed and the new dates will be announced soon.
This is not the only instance when Krishna's concert was cancelled due to his ideologies. In August, a temple in Maryland had cancelled his show after Hindu outfits protested the Christian hymns in his songs.
Earlier in January, Krishna's concert had to be conducted with heightened security in Tirupur in Tamil Nadu after many textile workers in the region threatened to disturb the concert.
