Ever since Coldplay confirmed their itinerary and their plans of performing in Mumbai, a lot of rage went about the social circles in the city pockets in the plush parts of the city. But India’s most talked about event recently attracted highlight for all the wrong reasons. Now, why would a concert/event hosting one of the biggest music bands in the International industry be targeted by someone!!
Many (out of habit), would innocently think that the same was being done by a Hindu Nationalist fringe group which was trying to limit the influence of western culture in India, but all of them were in for a surprise when twitter and facebook trolls started to come in, and they realised that this ridiculous demand was not brainchild of the so-called Hindu fringe groups but by an eminent Mumbai based Congress leader, Sanjay Nirupam, (popularly known as Rahul Gandhi’s right hand man).
The politician, who had previously been pulled up for his outrageous remarks raising doubts over the authenticity of the surgical strike conducted by the Army, came under criticism again for his demand of the Coldplay concert to be banned (for the time being) from performing in Mumbai, because according to him and his NCP counterparts the concert created goodwill for the BJP which was against the political code of Conduct.
To give our readers a background; the BJP government in Maharashtra gave a concession of 75% in fare to the organisers for the ground at Bandra Kurla Complex (BKC) in addition to the tax exemption that was given to the organisers. This according to Nirupan was violative of the Code of Conduct and gave BJP political mileage.
Until, Sanjay Nirupan had not raised this issue, none were aware that the BJP government had been instrumental in granting such exemptions for the show to be hosted in Mumbai. The demand which was shot down by the State Election Commissioner JS Saharia, not only back-fired badly for the Congress but also created political goodwill in favour of the BJP, especially in the minds of those pseudo- liberals who blindly followed the Congress and their bellowed South Mumbai based Milind Deora irrespective of how silly they looked, until an attempt to jeopardise it was made by their very own liberal leaders over their favourite artists performing in the city.
Unwise to demand a ban on @coldplay. Musical concerts don't determine elections. @INCIndia has always favoured a culturally vibrant Mumbai
— Milind Deora | मिलिंद देवरा ☮️ (@milinddeora) November 4, 2016
Although the Election Commission was quick to point out that while the code of conduct had been imposed across the state as elections to 212 local bodies were underway, the restrictions were not applicable in the city, where the civic elections are scheduled for early in 2017.
Thankfully with swift action from the State Election commission (SEC) and the Fadnavis led BJP Government all such allegations by the opposing parties were put to rest and the Coldplay concert was confirmed to be hosted on the due date and venue as had been fixed initially (i.e. 19th November, 2016 @ BKC).
Taking into consideration, how biased the Mainstream media is, the incident although worth being debated on prime-time slots hardly had any coverage. But due to the widespread use of Social Media (Twitter and Facebook) a lot of buzz amongst the twitterati was generated where seemingly all the young Coldplay and Jay Z fans vented out their anger and disappointment at the statements generated by Nirupam, which inadvertently gave BJP a good face, as a friend of both, the poor as well as the rich of Mumbai.