Ghulam Ali’s Delhi event cancelled after ‘threat’

The music launch of Pakistani ghazal maestro Ghulam Ali-starrer “Ghar Wapsi” was on Monday cancelled with the director claiming there were security threats.

However, the management of Royal Plaza where the event was to be held this afternoon said it was cancelled as there was “no information about it” and also “no documentation”.

The film’s director Suhaib Illyasi claimed he received a call from Vishnu Gupta of Hindu Sena threatening to disrupt the event. “It is regrettable that Ghulam Ali’s music launch has been cancelled by the hotel management. We were told not to keep the event here as they feared that people from Vishwa Hindu Parishad and Hindu Sena would disrupt it and destroy hotel property,” he told reporters here.

Police personnel were deployed outside the venue and even detained a few men who were chanting “Bharat Mata Ki Jai”. A few of them said they were volunteers of Hindu Sena.

The director plans to reschedule the launch but is yet to decide where it will be organised.

“We will surely organise the launch again. I knew such an incident could happen that’s why we had written to Delhi Police and the home ministry to provide us security and I am happy that Indian government and the police did their best. Despite this, the hotel has decided to call off the event.” 

Meanwhile, several Hindu Sena activists, including its chief Vishnu Gupta, were detained by police on Monday when they were on their way to allegedly disrupt a music launch event of film ‘Ghar Wapsi’, starring the Pakistani ghazal maestro. 

The activists were detained at Ashoka Road around 2 pm as they were heading towards the music launch event venue in Royal Plaza Hotel in Connaught Place, a senior police officer said. They were put in a bus and taken to a police station in New Delhi district.

Hindu Sena chief Gupta had allegedly threatened the film’s director Suhaib Ilyasi, who lodged a complaint at Connaught Place police station yesterday, the officer added.

In his complaint to the police, Ilyasi said he received a “threat call” from Gupta on his cell phone. He sought police protection for himself and his family and security cover for the event scheduled.

Gupta, meanwhile, had claimed the film was “anti-Hindu” and said: “We have sought cancellation of its music launch. We have decided to protest against it.”