TM Krishna’s Delhi Concert, Cancelled After Right-Wing Troll Attack, is Back on

New Delhi: Delhi’s deputy chief minister Manish Sisodia on Friday announced that the AAP government has invited Carnatic singer TM Krishna to perform in the city on November 17 after the Airport Authority of India cancelled his concert, allegedly due to a concerted social media campaign by right-wing trolls.

After Krishna's Saturday concert that was to be held at Nehru Park was cancelled by AAI, the AAP government had on Thursday stepped in to organise another performance by Krishna, who often finds himself in the cross-hairs of controversy over his outspoken views.

Sisodia said he has invited Krishna to perform in Delhi on November 17. "No artist should ever be denied an opportunity to perform. I have invited @tmkrishna to perform on November 17 for the people of Delhi It's important to maintain the dignity of the Art and Artists," he tweeted.

Krishna confirmed he was in touch with the Delhi government. "The government has been in touch with me and are interested in hosting a concert on the 17th. We will know the details later but I have in principle said yes," he said.

Later on, Krishna took on to Twitter to officially announce that he will be performing on November 17.

He was originally scheduled to perform at “Dance and Music in the Park” festival that was to be organised jointly by the AAI and cultural body, SPIC-MACAY.

On November 10, AAI had announced that Krishna will be performing at the event in a tweet. Several advertisements were also released in some newspapers of the city.

However, while speaking to News18, Krishna revealed that AAI informed SPIC-MACAY on Tuesday night that the concert was called off due to “some exigencies of work,” and that the organization is no longer “in a position to go ahead with the dance & music concert.”

Krishna had re-tweeted AAI’s invitation on Monday, which triggered a spate of trolls who targeted the government body for sponsoring the concert. The tweets accused AAI of using public funds to sponsor Krishna, who sings about “Jesus and Allah”, is “anti-India”, a “converted bigot” and an “Urban Naxal”.

Soon after, the hashtag #DisinviteTMKrishna started doing rounds on the micro-blogging website. The trolls also tagged senior functionaries in the government, including Minister of Railways, Coal and Corporate Affairs Piyush Goyal and Minister of Civil Aviation Suresh Prabhu.

Krishna said he was even given assurances that the concert would go ahead as scheduled but it was cancelled without intimating him. "This is alarming. At least they could've come up with a better excuse to cancel my performance," he told News18.