A First Information Report has been registered against Assamese singer Zubeen Garg for allegedly insulting the Bharat Ratna, India’s highest civilian award. Assam Kisan Morcha Vice President Satya Ranjan Borah said in a Facebook post that he filed the case against Garg for the song Politics Nokoriba Bandhu (don’t indulge in politics) at the Lanka Police Station in Hojai district of Assam on Saturday.
The Assam Kisan Morcha is affiliated to the Bharatiya Janata Party.
Borah claimed that Garg also insulted late singer Bhupen Hazarika in his song. Hazarika was posthumously conferred the Bharat Ratna on Republic Day.
“I don’t have any personal problem with Zubin Garg but the way he has been behaving cannot be accepted for a healthy and cultured Assamese society,” Borah wrote on Facebook. “If you think for the society please be with for the cause. Thank you.”
Lanka Police Station Officer AP Srimanta Sarmah confirmed that a case has been filed against Garg, The Indian Express reported. “We registered the FIR this morning,” he said. “The case is registered under Section 294, 500, 506 of the Indian Penal Code, and Section 67 of the Information Technology Act.”
Borah, in the FIR, claimed that the song will “impact the youth negatively”. “Zubeen Garg is an institution,” he said. “He has a massive following.”
Garg had been the voice of the BJP’s election campaign song in Assam in 2016. On January 14, the singer offered to return his fee to the party to protest the Citizenship (Amendment) Bill. Garg had earlier written to Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal demanding that the BJP surrender the votes it procured because of the song he sang.
The bill seeks to amend the Citizenship Act of 1955 in order to grant citizenship to Hindus, Buddhists, Sikhs, Jains, Parsis and Christians from Bangladesh, Afghanistan and Pakistan if they have lived in India for six years, even if they do not possess the necessary documents.
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