After 46 Muslim clerics issued a fatwa against upcoming Assamese singer Nahid Afrin, Chief Minister Sabarnanda Sonowal has come out in her support, condemning the clerics and speaking about the freedom of artists to perform in a democracy.
According to a report in The Times Of India, the fatwa was issued against the 16-year-old Class X student for “anti-Sharia acts like musical nights”. The singer is due to perform at a function on March 25 and the fatwa says that the performance is anti-Sharia.
The police are reportedly probing whether the directive from the clerics has come about as a result of her performing songs against terrorism and against the IS. The report adds that leaflets bearing the fatwa had been distributed in the central Assamese districts of Hojai and Nagaon.
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“If anti-Sharia acts like musical nights are held on grounds surrounded by masjids, idgahs, madrassas and graveyards, our future generations will attract the wrath of Allah,” the fatwa reportedly says. It was circulated on Tuesday, eleven days before her performance at the Udali Sonai Bibi College in Assam.
Assam’s CM, Sabarnanda Sonowal said on Twitter that he had spoken with the singer and reassured her, adding that “Freedom of artists are essence of democracy (sic)”.
The singer spoke to the TOI, saying: “I am speechless. I think my music is God's gift to me. I will never bow down to it (such warnings) and never leave singing.”
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The teenage singer first earned the spotlight on a reality TV show and then went on to lend her voice to the Sonakshi Sinha starrer Akira.
