JNU row: Now national award-winning music composer Kabir Suman gets the wrath

The noted singer wrote a song for the arrested JNU students and supported Afzal Guru on Facebook, but immediately his Facebook page was blocked

Mumbai, February 19: National award-winning singer Kabir Suman was the next in line to face the wrath from the ultra-nationalist forces of the country that are currently using all the machineries to force citizens to fall in line with them. The singer, who wrote a song in favour of the arrested JNU students, was at the receiving end when his Facebook page was blocked with immediate effect.

Suman wrote the song on his Facebook page which also had support for Afzal Guru, the 2001 Parliament attack convict who was hanged in 2013. Soon after the posts were liked and shared by many, the page suddenly couldn’t be accessed which prompted an intense debate from the fans and like-minded people on the social networking site.

The fans and close associates of the singer pointed fingers towards the Central Government for this blocking. Without naming anybody, the fans accused the BJP-led NDA government for this treatment to an artist. (Also Read: JNU Row: Kashmiri protesters show ‘Thank JNU’ poster, raise ISIS flags)

However, it’s nothing new for the singer who turned politician. He has been embroiled in several controversies over the years. Suman was a Member of Parliament on an All India Trinamool Congress ticket from 2009-14 and in between also he had several showdowns with his party colleagues, particularly West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee.

The 66-year-old singer, who played multiple roles as singer, composer, music director, also served as a journalist in Nicaragua. He is known to be Prime Minister Narendra Modi-baiter as he wrote songs condemning the Gujarat riots in 2002. He went against the ruling Left Front government during the violence is Nandigram on the outskirts of Kolkata since 2006 and started aligning with the then opposition Trinamool Congress.

TMC thereafter nominated him for 2009 general election from the Jadavpur constituency against CPI(M)’s Sujan Chakraborty. Suman won by handsome 54,000 margin to seal the berth in Parliament. But speaking his mind in public glare cost him the TMC membership and he again started concentrating on music, which actually made him a household name in West Bengal.

It may be recalled that Suman shot into limelight with two melodious Bengali albums — Tomake Chai (I want you) and Boshe Anko (Sit and Draw) in early 1990s which became popular numbers for the youngsters and school/college goers.

Besides winning several awards like BFJA Awards and Mirchi Music awards, the singer won the coveted national award for his music direction in a Bengali film Jatishwar in 2014.