Police stop concert for parodying Modi

The song was performed by a band called Casteless Collective formed by film director Pa Ranjith at Urur Olcott Kuppam Vizha which was rechristened as Chennai Kalai Theru Vizha. The music fest began on January 13 at Korukkupet and was conducted once before at Besant Nagar on January 14.

On Sunday, the programme which began with Paraiyattam had an array of performances. When the members of Casteless Collective began to perform the song titled Modi Masthan, a sub-inspector attached to Shastri Nagar police station approached the organisers and allegedly tried to turn off the mikes.

Musician Tenma, a member of Casteless Collective, said that they performed seven songs before Modi Masthan. “The song is about people being looted. We have performed it in public before and the lyrics are available online. The way it was objected by the police shocked us,” another member of the band said.

Nithyanand Jayaraman, activist and one of the organisers of the event, said that the song was stopped one minute after it was started. “We cooperated with police as they were kind enough to give permission for the festival. I think they were nervous. I cannot find fault with the police, but I find a problem with the situation created in the county where mentioning a name is prohibited. I think that needs to be worried about, not the police action,” he said.

When contacted, Shastri Nagar police inspector Murugan, however, said that the festival was going on beyond the permitted time and that was the only reason to stop the programme.