Lucknow, December 9
The reported favouritism shown to Samajwadi Member of Parliament
Jayaprada during the Lucknow Mahotsav by paying her more than 13 times
than renowned Hindustani vocalist Pandit Jasraj threatens to snowball
into a political controversy.
Lucknow Mahotsav, organised annually by the district administration to showcase the Nawabi tehzeeb, formally concluded on December 5. But the storm it has kicked up for what is being termed as showing disrespect to a senior artist, refuses to die down.
While Pandit Jasraj, the doyen of the Mewati gharana, was paid a mere Rs 3.50 lakh for performing at the inaugural function of the Mahotsav on November 25, SP Lok Sabha MP from Rampur was paid a whopping Rs 40 lakh for enacting a musical ballet called Amrapalli.
BSP leader in the Vidhan Sabha Swami Prasad Maurya described this not only as a disrespect of a senior artist but also misuse of public money. Charging the fee paid to Jayaprada as disproportionate, he said that it was more due to the sitting MP’s proximity to party general secretary Amar Singh and Chief Minister Mulayam Singh Yadav rather than her value as a fading actor.
BJP state chief Keshari Nath Tripathi alleged that the state government does not know how to revere a genius like Pandit Jasraj. “What is the message that goes to an artist like him when he is paid Rs 3.50 lakh and a party MP and actor Rs 40 lakh during the same Mahotsav?” he wondered.
Defending the decision, Minister for Tourism and Culture Kakob Hamid said this was not the first time that someone from Bollywood had been paid such an amount.
