Music maestro Illaiyaraja recently courted controversy for comparing Prime Minister Narendra Modi with the father of the constitution Dr BR Ambedkar. Needless to say, he has been facing a lot of backlash and criticism for his comments.
The comparison was made in the forebode of the book Ambedkar & Modi: Reformers ideas, Performers implementation, published by Bluekraft Digital Foundation. He not only drew parallels between them but also said Ambedkar would be proud of Modi. His support for the BJP supremo did not go down well with many.
Even his son Yuvan Shankar Raja, in a recent post, hinted at his political disagreement with his father.
Now, composer James Vasanthan has also joined the bandwagon, questioning Illaiyaraja’s statements. In a Facebook post, James said that Illaiyaraja has been revered for almost half a decade by the Tamil nation for his talent and that it is normal for every individual to have different likes and dislikes, policies and choices. Yet, the scrutiny of one’s claims and policies in the light of one’s social identity can’t be ignored. On that basis, those in such a place should treat themselves with caution.
“One must be very careful when expressing opinions on matters of interest to a race, community, or country. One comment he has made recently is an expression of the ideology he has. But one has to think a little about what kind of impact it will have,” he said also stating that the comparison that Illaiyaraja made was unacceptable.
He then mentioned musician AR Rahman and talked about how he had been giving back to Tamil society, how he composed the Tamil anthem Moopilla Thamizhe Thaaye and how his music institution brought in poor students from government schools and taught them Western classical music, raising them to international prominence. He said that it was important to do something creative for the race, just like AR Rahman has.
