india

Updated: Oct 08, 2019 09:51 IST

Punjabi singer Gurdas Maan cancelled his performance in Kolkata after being shown a replica of Golden Temple set up at the venue where he was due to perform on the occasion of Durga Puja on Sunday.

Terming it ‘unethical encroachment of Sikh morals’, Maan said, “The organisers have created a replica of the Harmandir Sahib and people are entering the place bare-headed and wearing shoes.”

Maan was due to perform at the Subhash Uddyan venue in South Kolkata locality of Bhowanipore on Sunday. Apparently, on the flight to City of Joy, it was brought to the Punjabi singer’s attention that a replica of the Harmandir Sahib was set up at the performance venue. This did not go down well with the singer whose song ‘Ki banu duniya da’ was a chart topper.

“Performing there would have amounted to sacrilege. We returned from the Kolkata Airport itself,” his wife Manjeet Maan told HT. It came as a shock when an organiser showed us a video of the venue. Gurdas Maan refused to perform at once, she added.

“I’m quite shocked at this violation. Sadly, even if it ruffles the organisers, I could not have done this as it’s completely against my personal belief in the sanctity of religious places,” said the veteran singer.

Only recently, Maan had drawn criticism from Punjabis and Punjabi diaspora following his interview on a Canada-based Punjabi radio in which he appeared to be supporting the ‘one nation, one language’ idea.