New Delhi: On Saturday (November 17) evening, Carnatic singer T.M. Krishna played for a large audience at Delhi’s Garden of Five Senses. This concert was organised at the last minute by the Delhi government after the Airports Authority of India cancelled the musician’s scheduled performance at Nehru Park, reportedly because of criticism from right-wing groups. Krishna has been a vocal critic of right-wing forces.A group of students and teachers from universities across Delhi have written a statement in solidarity with Krishna, condemning the AAI’s decision to cancel the Nehru Park concert.The full statement is reproduced below.§On February 20, 2018, T.M. Krishna delivered the 3rd AK Ramanujan Lecture organised by the History Society of Ramjas College, University of Delhi. He drew upon Ramanujan’s work, especially the essay ‘Three Hundred Ramayanas’ and Ramanujan’s translation of a verse from Nammalvar, and spoke of his (Krishna’s) own demanding and liberating journey towards a critical engagement with the beauty and performative aspects of the music he re-imagines and sings afresh each time. Hearing him speak that morning, many of us understood for the first time perhaps, the centrality of questioning – along axes of gender and caste for example – to Krishna’s life and work as a singer. Many of us understood, for the first time perhaps, that Krishna’s forceful acknowledgement that Art, like everything else about human life, is embedded in specific social processes, and his commitment to try to emancipate it from this encasement, are in fact the qualities that make Krishna’s music singularly beautiful, apart of course, from compelling him to stand up against injustice in many different ways.Also read: T.M. Krishna and Arvind Kejriwal Team Up for a Soiree on the Art of PoliticsNo wonder then, that, when Krishna ended his lecture at Ramjas College by singing the Nammalvar verse that he had quoted in the beginning, it was not difficult for many of us to imagine the lived experiences of not just a few, but of all kinds of people inhabiting the universe of the song’s text, to imagine the softer notes left out in the crescendo of power. He sang, as he often does, for the people and of the people. He sang, as he often does, the poetry of banished poets and the music about ‘poromboku’.The sudden indefinite postponement of the concert at which TM Krishna was to sing at the Nehru Park in New Delhi, has grossly violated and weakened the right of all Indian citizens to express themselves freely, as also our rights as citizens to listen to, and experience art in freedom and without fear.We, the undersigned students and teachers of Universities in Delhi, unequivocally protest these violations and stand in solidarity with TM Krishna. We shall be present to listen to him sing at the Garden of the Five Senses, New Delhi, on the evening of November 17, 2018.Signatories:Mukul Mangalik, Department of History, Ramjas College, University of DelhiVinita Chandra, Department of English, Ramjas College, University of DelhiPooja Thakur, Department of History, Ramjas College, University of DelhiRoopa Dhawan, Department of English, Ramjas College, University of DelhiChitra Joshi, Department of History, Indraprastha College for WomenVebhuti Duggal, School of Culture and Creative Expressions, AUDRina Ramdev, Department of English, Sri Venkateswara CollegeSuvritta Khatri, Department of History, Deshbandhu CollegeSanjay Kumar Bohidar, Shri Ram College of CommerceAbha Dev Habib, Department of Physics, Miranda HouseMihir Pandey, Department of Economics, Ramjas CollegeDebjani Sengupta, Department of English, Indraprastha College for WomenRashmi Pant, Department of History, Indraprastha College for WomenGagan Kumar, Department of History, Ramjas CollegeNandini Dutta, Department of Economics, Miranda HouseRatna Raman, University of DelhiDeeba Zafir, University of DelhiSwati Singh, Department of History, DUShreya Das, Department of History, DUAhvana, Department of History, DUKaveri Choudhury, School of Liberal Studies, AUDSomok Roy, Ramjas CollegeDhruv Dev Chauhan, Ramjas CollegeMayank Charan, Ramjas CollegeSiddhant Datta, Department of English, DUPriya Poddar, Department of English, DUMoksh Kalra, Ramjas CollegeSatyam Yaduvanshi, Ramjas CollegeDipanjali Singh, Ramjas CollegeMalik Irtiza, Ramjas CollegeAvijit Singh, Department of History, DURupal Anand, Ramjas CollegeAnanya Pandey, Ramjas CollegeAmogh, Ramjas CollegeAbhinav Nair, Ramjas CollegeShatakshi Whorra, Ramjas CollegeKakali Kalita, Ramjas CollegeAkash Chattopadhyay, Department of History, DUUrvi Dhar, Ramjas CollegeRohan Sagar, Ramjas CollegeRakesh Kamal, Department of History, DUSanjeev Kumar, Department of History DUPiyush Kukrety, Formerly in Hindu CollegeSomnath Pati, Hansraj CollegeRushnae Kabir, CHS, JNUKrishn Kumar Upadhyay, CHS, JNUYashaswi Singh, CHS, JNUSouradeep Roy, SAA, JNUGudipalli Ravali, Department of History, DUSonakshi Srivastava, Department of English, DUVartika Rastogi, Hindu CollegeAshi Datta, Hindu CollegeAnant Gupta, DCACParibhasha Yadav, Hindu CollegeHiya Harinandini, Hindu CollegeAshutosh, Ramjas CollegeAman Sinha, Ramjas CollegeGaurav Sharma, Ramjas CollegeNishita Alagh, Department of Psychology, University of DelhiAditi Jain, Department of History, University of DelhiAswathy Nair, Ramjas CollegeAmeen Muhammed P S, Ramjas CollegeSantosh Kumar Yadav, Satyavati CollegeDinesh Kabir, Department of Hindi, DUShailendra pratap, Department of Hindi, DURakesh Kumar, Satyawati CollegeShahana Bhattacharya, Department of History, KMCSaumya Gupta, Department of History, Janki Devi CollegeSaumyajit Bhattacharya, Department of Economics, KMCMadhav Nair, Department of History, SOAS, London. Rahul Kumar, Ramjas College Smriti Pathak, Dept of Political science DUAmit Pradhan, Philosophy, Ramjas College. Vishal Deo, Department of Statistics, Ramjas CollegeMihir Pandey, Ramjas CollegeRudrashish Chakraborty, Department of English, Kirorimal CollegeTanvir Aeijaz, Department of Political Science, Ramjas CollegeBiswajit Mohanty, Department of Political Science, Deshbandu CollegeDebraj Mookerjee, Department of English, Ramjas CollegeBenu Mohanlal, Department of English, Ramjas ollegeSneha Sharma, Department of English, Ramjas CollegeKumar Rahul, Department of Political Science, Ramjas CollegeSanjeev Kumar, Department of History, D.U.Manjeet Sabarwal, Satyawati College