Support pours in for Carnatic vocalist Sudha Raghunathan after backlash over daughter’s marriage to foreigner

After the wedding invitation of her daughter Maalavika to a man named Michael Murphy began circulating on Twitter, a section of people started attacking the renowned singer on Twitter. 

Racist comments and vicious tweets were hurled at the groom, who is reportedly of African descent, and quite a few negative remarks were made against the Padma Shri awardee, suggesting that since Sudha had agreed to get her daughter married to a non-Hindu, she should no longer perform at Hindu temples and sabhas. 

However, it was also heartening to see the entire community of artistes come out in support of Sudha.Singer Chinmayi Sripaada directed her tweet at the man, who allegedly threatened the singer’s family over the news of the wedding. 

She wrote: “Just got to know from friends about Sudha Raghunathan’s family being bullied. This so-called RSS man that also bullied OS Arun (a Carnatic singer who was threatened by right-wing fringe groups last year for singing songs on Christianity) has no other business or what? There was apparently a time when the RSS did some stellar work including rescuing girls trafficked into the flesh trade. This man is a shame. Those who think RSS stands for good work and etc - this is your time to step up and do the right thing.” 

Several people quoted the example of legendary dancer Rukmini Devi Arundale who married an Englishman and went on to establish Kalakshetra as a seat of culture and learning in south India.

Others lauded the union – “So beautiful to see people fall in love based on personality, not on your ethnicity/race/religion/social status”. 

When this newspaper called Sudha for a quote, the singer was not available for comment, but a close friend of the family said that she will not respond to the negativity around a happy occasion like a wedding.