This refers to the article, “Imagine a fatwa against Rafi” (April 8) by Rajesh Singh. The Hindi film industry has been a trailblazer in propagating sentiments of nationalism among masses. Films such as Jagriti, Mother India, Son of India, Shaheed and Pukar, bear testimony to this, even as the most popular bhajan, ‘Mann tadpat Hari darshan ko aaj’, from the film, Baiju Bawra, was coincidentally the creation of a Muslim trio Shakeel Badayuni as the lyricist, Mohammed Rafi as the singer and Naushad as the composer. Religious song from Kohinoor, ‘Madhuban mein Radhika nache re’, was also the composition of Shakeel, Rafi and Naushad.
Actually, there is no real issue of nationalism, but some self-proclaimed nationalists and vested interests keep posing themselves as arbiters of nationalism. Otherwise, each and every Indian is a nationalist and loves his or her country as much as those raising controversies to keep their political pot boiling.