A day after popular music producer and disc jockey (DJ) Vikash Kaser raised ‘Azadi slogans’ during a Holi party in Pune, he has tendered an apology on Saturday (March 19).
In a statement, Kaser said, “I had chanted the slogan “Azadi” at the Holi event. This song was from the famous movie ‘Gully Boy’, sung by “Divine” and starring“Ranveer Singh”. I was absolutely not aware that it is used by separatists and was used before terrorists had murdered Hindus in Kashmir.”
“I believe in the sovereignty and integrity of India and truly apologise if my innocence hurt anyone. I have pulled down the video, which was reposted by me after it was posted by a patron at the event,” he further added.
Vikash Kaser emphasised, “I would like to clarify that “Bharat Mata ki Jai” slogans were also raised at the event and that is the one we actually believe in.”
The Background of the Controversy
On Friday (March 18), Kaser was the lead DJ during a Holi party, which was organised at the Westin Pune Koregaon Park in Pune in Maharashtra. During the event, Vikash Kaser was seen asking the crowd to repeat the slogan ‘Azadi’ after him.
A large number of people in the crowd reciprocated his call by yelling ‘Azadi’ on the occasion of Holi. The matter came to light after an Instagram user (@jyo6177) had posted a video of the incident in her stories, which was later reposted by the DJ on his own profile.
Following social media outrage, Vikash Kaser deleted his story and has tendered an apology.
The Instagram user (@jyo6177 ) had posted another story, where some crowd members were heard raising the slogan of ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai‘ (India is great).
Although a video of the incident is available with Opindia, we have decided against posting it keeping in mind the privacy of patrons at the event.
Azadi slogan and its grim past
In the aftermath of the ‘Azadi Movement’ by JKLF headed by Yasin Malik, several Kashmiri Pandits were slaughtered and forcibly evicted from their homeland. Kashmiri Pandits who were chased out of their homes violently by separatists in the 1980s and 1990s, know the horror of ‘Azadi’ chants the woke Instagram policy experts happily chant at the protest sites.
The ‘woke’ generation takes a thrill in chanting ‘Azadi’ slogans because they think they are ‘saving democracy’. Little do they realise that these ‘Azadi’ slogans meant death for the Kashmiri Pandits in the valley. That when an Islamist mob came for them chanting these ‘Azadi’ slogans and raped and murdered them.
But in an era when even a poem calling for destruction of Hindu idols in temples gets whitewashed into a poem of resistance, what can one say about these ‘Azadi’ slogans. The slogans gained prominence during the violent Anti-CAA protests, which later culminated into the 2020 Delhi riots.
