TM Krishna award row: Annamalai, Zoho's Sridhar Vembu back Ranjani-Gayatri

T.M. Krishna

The controversy over the decision of The Music Academy to award the prestigious Sangita Kalanidhi to musician T.M. Krishna is escalating by the day, and is slowly taking a political overtone.

In a hard-hitting post in the X social media platform, K. Annamalai, President of Tamil Nadu unit of the BJP, said that "The Music Academy, revered as the Temple of Carnatic music and spiritual consciousness for more than nine decades, is under the threat of disintegration by divisive forces detrimental to the sanctity of the organisation."

Castigating the Academy, he said, "the last refuge for proponents of defunct propaganda and ideology of hate and division cannot be the Temple of Carnatic music."

Following the announcement of the award, the initial trigger for the anti-TM Krishna protest had come from Carnatic singer sisters Ranjani and Gayatri, when they announced their withdrawal from participating in the Music Academy’s conference 2024 and from presenting their concert on December 25.

ALSO READ: An award row shakes up a venerable Carnatic music institution

Annamalai's tweet on the raging issues comes closely in the wake of DMK leader Kanimozhi extending her support to T.M. Krishna.

“tmkrishna being recognised as Sangita Kalanidhi by the Music Academy has ruffled the feathers of parts of music fraternity. The hate he is receiving for his social beliefs or his engagement with Periyar is uncalled for. A basic reading of Periyar's ideas shows us that he is one of the greatest feminist the world has seen. He never called for a genocide,” Kanimozhi had posted on X, formerly Twitter.

Tugulak editor S. Gurumurthy, Zoho founder Sridhar Vembu and others too have stepped in to criticise the Academy award to T.M. Krishna. "Kanchi mahaswami said thyagaraja attained moksha through the divine Carnatic music. TMK brings into such an elevating concept filthy caste religion Dravidian hate for anything sacred. The MA has not honoured music but filth,” Gurumurthy said in his social media posting.

Sridhar Vembu, founder of Zoho, is, perhaps, the first from the world of industry to voice his view on the T.M. Krishna imbroglio. In his X post, he said: “Wish I had learned Carnatic music and I have to admit to being a zero compared to a talent like T M Krishna. With that said upfront, I find his woke politics nauseating. If he truly wanted to reform Hindu society, he could start with Swami Vivekananda. Instead he has sadly chosen to be in bed with forces that want to destroy Dharma and break this nation. That I cannot stand.”

Academy urged not to give MS award to Krishna

In the meanwhile, Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Puthucode Kendra, Palakkad district, has demanded that The Music Academy should desist from giving the MS Subbulakshmi Award instituted by The Hindu since 2005 to T.M. Krishna.

In a letter to N. Muruali, President of The Music Academy, R. Ananthanarayan (Hon. Secretary), Bharatiya Vidya Bhavan, Puthucode Kendra, said: “My primary concern and also objection is that the Sangita Kalanidhi also receives the MS Subbulakshmi Award instituted by The Hindu since 2005 as stated in your website. In case you and the Committee may not be aware, take this opportunity to bring to your kind attention that Shri T.M. Krishna wrote a highly derogatory article filled with slander on Carnatic music’s greatest Icon under the title “MS Understood”, the myths and misconceptions around MS Subbulakshmi.”

“Bharat Ratna MS Subbulakshmi was an extraordinary personality who visited our Planet in the 20th Century and inspired generations, and will continue to do so in the future. She was for Carnatic music what Albert Einstein is for Physics, Swami Vivekananda for Spirituality or Sir Donald Bradman and Sachin Tendulkar for Cricket. To give such a distinguished award instituted in her honour by The Hindu Newspaper to T.M. Krishna would not just be an affront and insult to the memory of this great Icon but equal vent in giving the Mahatma Gandhi Peace Award to Nathuram Godse's supporter, to simply put it in layman’s terms,” he said.

He appealed to the Academy president to refrain from giving the MS Subbulakshmi Award along with the Sangita Kalanidhi award to Shri T.M. Krishna for 2024.

Ananthanarayan cited an article written by T.M. Krishna in Caravan magazine on October 1, 2015 while demanding the Academy from giving away the MS Subbulakshmi award to him.

The opening para of the article reads thus: “IN A PRIVATE CONVERSATION sometime in the late 1980s, a sharp-tongued young aspiring musician made an extraordinary statement about Carnatic music’s most iconic figure. “MS Subbulakshmi,” he said with disdain, “is the greatest hoax of the twentieth century.” Many readers will leap to accuse me of blasphemy for even citing this rather obnoxious remark. But it has stayed with me ever since, and I have a somewhat severe explanation for why.”

What cannot be simply brushed away is the fact that her rendition of "Venkatesa Suprabatham”, “Vishnu Saharanaman” and the like are still the most popular among people. The Government of Andhra Pradesh has in fact installed her statue at an intersection point in Tirupati as one heads to the hill temple of Lord Vekatasa.