The opposition party in India, Congress, has slammed the award given to Adnan Sami.
Padma Awards are one of the highest civilian awards in India and given for distinguished service in a field. Adnan Sami was awarded Padma Shri in the field of arts this year.
Congress national Spokesperson, Jaiveer Shergill has termed it “magic of govt chamchagiri.”
“Why Indian Soldier like Mohd Sannaullah is declared foreigner via NRC & Son of Pakistan Air Force Pilot is given Padma Shri?” Shergill questioned the ruling party BJP (Bharatiyya Janata party) on Twitter.
“Is this New India?”
Responding to the issue, the singer Adnan Sami questioned Shergill’s credentials resulting in a war of words.
The ruling party BJP has defended the award given to Adnan Sami in a press conference Monday.
“Adnan Sami had written a song for the Indian Cricket team during the 2003 Cricket World Cup even though he was a Pakistan citizen at that time.
"Adnan Sami is a vocalist, world’s fastest pianist and world acclaimed music composer. He has been working in this field for 4 decades. He has sung more than 120 songs.”
I do not understand, Adnan Sami is a Muslim, earlier he was a Pakistani Muslim then he applied according to the rules and got Indian Citizenship. He was conferred with a Padma Award on merit, what is the problem?"
“This only proves one thing that these liberals, AAP, Congress and 'Thauheen Bagh' people who are protesting against CAA keep saying that Pakistani Muslims are not included in this law.
An Indian actor Raza Murad has also questioned Adnan Sami’s citizenship in relation to the new Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA).
The CAA seeks to provide citizenship to the minority communities namely Hindus, Sikhs, Buddhists, Jains, Parsis, and Christians from Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and Pakistan but excludes Muslims.
“Did you give citizenship to Adnan Sami or not? Is he a Muslim or not? He is a Muslim. He was resident of Pakistan. His father was in the Pakistan Air Force and he dropped bombs on India in the 1965 war.” Murad said in his interview to the media.
“I have no objection to Adnan Sami's citizenship. I only object that you are keeping only one community apart and you are showing that they are different. The government should give citizenship to anyone irrespective of religion."
Responding to Raza Murad's comment, Adnan wrote on Twitter, “I thought that this guy was a villain & talked crap only in Movies.”
In 2015, the singer applied for Indian citizenship and became a citizen next year.
