Singer Sona Mahapatra never shies away from putting her opinion forward on any issue. Earlier this year, when the #MeToo movement spread its wings in India, singers Sona Mohapatra and Shweta Pandit accused Bollywood singer Anu Malik of sexual harassment. While the topic was almost lost in history, Sonu Nigam came forward to back up Anu Malik at the Agenda Aaj Tak 2018 Summit. Sonu defended Anu Malik on the platform, saying, "If you say, 'Anu Malik met me this morning', that's fine. You accused him without any proof; let's accept that too. Had he [Anu Malik] wanted to say anything, he could have said a lot. But he did not. If I say that you misbehaved with me, you will ask me for proof. But there's no proof, right? Despite that, people are respecting the accusers, who are tarnishing Anu Malik's name. But how can you ban him? How can you snatch his bread and butter? How can you torture his family?"
This obviously didn’t go down well with singer Sona Mohapatra and she slammed Sonu Malik through a number of tweets. She wrote, “So much sympathy for a millionaire losing work? So much empathy for his privileged family being ‘tortured’?How about the scores of girls & women he tortured?Multiple testimonies not proof enough?”
Another tweet read, “1)Not 1 but possibly 100+ women & MEN can attest to Anu Malik’s deplorable abusive behaviour. 2)I guess Mr. Sonu Nigam expects all these women/underage girls to - a)strap recording devices b)carry spy cams,other proof gathering devices cus they have much to benefit defaming him?”
On the other hand, Sonu Nigam said at Agenda Aaj Tak, "I haven't had enough opportunity to speak on this subject. I myself am a witness to how power is misused. I said #MeToo ten years ago, when a journalist kept harassing me. He had told a director that if he [the director] worked with me, he [the journalist] would kill himself."
Nigam also talked about his career in Bollywood and said, "it would be better if I was from Pakistan". This gave rise to a whole new controversy. Amid much hatred on the statement, the singer tried to clarify his words through a Facebook post and even claimed that the journalist has twisted his words or given it another meaning.
However, Sona Mohapatra has already put forward her opinion on his statement by then. She tweeted, “Are Arijeet Singh, Badshah,Vishal Dadlani from Pakistan though? (U’ve had your moment under the sun dear. India anoints a new ‘Male Super Star’ every 3/4/5 years without fail. Don’t blame the Pakistani artists. Also do not mix up Art & Music with Politics & Idealogy.”
Another of her tweet read, “I always found Sonu Nigam to be brighter than most of his peers, intelligent, so talented, excellent at his craft & yes, kind too. Feel so let down hearing him talk like this & choose the dark side to side up with. I’m hoping he realises how sad this is.”
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