Musician quits politics over tweet against monk
Music composer Vishal Dadlani, who openly supports the Aam Aadmi Party and has campaigned for its chief Arvind Kejriwal during elections, on Sunday announced that he was quitting ‘all active political work/affiliation’. The decision came after Mr. Dadlani was criticised on social media for his tweet against Jain monk Tarun Sagar, who addressed the Haryana Assembly in the nude.
Mr. Kejriwal had expressed his displeasure over Mr. Dadlani’s remark on Twitter and said, “Tarun Sagarji Maharaj is a very revered saint, not just for Jains but everyone and those showing disrespect is unfortunate and should stop [sic]”.
Delhi Home Minister Satyendar Jain had asked for ‘kshama (pardon)’ from the Jain monk on behalf of his music composer ‘friend’.
The Haryana government had invited the Jain monk to deliver a lecture on ‘Kadve Vachan’ in the Assembly on Friday.
After a barrage of criticism, Mr. Dadlani tendered an apology for his tweet and also deleted it. “It feels bad that I hurt my Jain friends & my friends @ArvindKejriwal & @SatyendarJain. I hereby quit all active political work/affiliation. I apologise again, to the Jain Community, & all others offended. But I beg you all not to support religion in governance, for India’s sake,” Mr. Dadlani tweeted.