KOLKATA: West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee felicitated Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali at his performance here on Tuesday evening, quoting Swami Vivekananda about tolerance.
“This is the land of Rabindranath Tagore, Paramhansa Ramakrishna, Swami Vivekananda, Netaji Subhash Chandra Bose and Deshbandhu Chittaranjan Das. Ghulam Aliji, you are always welcome here and will have to come again and again,” she said in Urdu, addressing the gathering at the Netaji Indoor Stadium at the heart of the city.
“Swami Vivekananda preached tolerance and today is his (153rd) birth anniversary. The world is one and we cannot live without tolerance. Music has no borders and artists are citizens of the world,” she said.
She recited an Urdu couplet taking a dig at those who had opposed the ghazal legend’s concert in Mumbai. The singer had then said he would never perform in India. It was after his Mumbai concert was cancelled following threats from the Shiv Sena that Mamata invited him to perform in Kolkata.
Expressing his gratitude to Mamata, Ghulam Ali said, “Mamata Banerjee is like Saraswati to me. I am more happy to come to Kolkata as I have come after a very long time.” He enthralled the audience with his popular ghazals till late evening.