Social media seems to thrives on it, and because Ilaiyaraaja wrote a preface for a book comparing Modi and Ambedkar, there seems to be a concerted effort to spread negativity from the opposite side of the camp, especially handles that claim to be part of the Dravidian Stock. During the copyright issue, they that the producers should receive the royalty without understanding the complexities of the issue. Some of them resorted to using casteist as a way to joke about the issue.
Ilaiyaraaja is nominated MP and not an elected MP of BJP. While there can be criticisms of his official position, demeaning his musical prowess and his fight for copyrights is nothing but malice.
In this country’s harsh political and cultural polarisation, we are losing sight of the critical issues. We criticise individual events rather than systemic issues. We are worried about the semantics rather than the actions. With respect to this struggle in asserting his rights, he is an activist taking on big corporations exploiting the rights of music composers, lyricists, and singers. The problem is he is the only person fighting the war, and even if we cannot support him, why berate him?
I would like to conclude this argument with this quote from Justice Anitha Sampath, written in the High Court Judgement.
“The Maestro, Mr.Ilaiyaraja, strode the music world like a colossus, incorporating several novel elements from folk tunes as well as Western sensibilities, merging notes, words, feelings and emotions, seamlessly. To the thousands of his admirers, the author of this judgement included, the music of the Maestro was simply, sheer magic. It dissolved barriers, made the incomplete, complete and the world an infinitesimally better place to be in. Nowhere is this more apparent than from the fact that all counsels who argued the matters, though divided in their interpretation of the law, were united in their adulation of his music”
We should all agree, shouldn’t we?
