‘Epic’: Twitter lauds acapella group for singing song written by Muslim for Modi’s arrival at White House

Two days ago, when Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi arrived at the US White House, a video went viral of the all-Indian acapella group Penn Masala sang ‘Jashn-e-Bahara’ in celebration of his arrival. Many Twitter users interpreted this as a clever diss to the controversial politician over his Islamophobic government, and also as a direct response to Biden who revealed that he will not talk to the Indian Prime Minister about human right violations during his visit.

‘Jashn-e-Bahara’ is an Urdu song written by the Muslim artists A.R Rehman and Javed Akhtar, and was sung by Javed Ali. The song was featured in the film ‘Jodhaa Akbar’, a movie about the marriage between the Mughal Emperor Akbar and his Hindu wife Jodha.

VIDEO | South Asian a cappella group Penn Masala performs rendition of Bollywood song 'Jashn-E-Bahaara' from the film Jodhaa Akbar at the White House ahead of PM Modi's arrival. #PMModiInUS pic.twitter.com/BcKUSJCYn9

— Press Trust of India (@PTI_News) June 22, 2023

Twitter users lauded this discreet but clever way to troll a secular and facist politcian, who has been criticised by American politicians like Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Rashida Tlaib and Ilhan Omar, who announced that they were boycotting Modi’s address to Congress, citing the politician’s abysmal human right’s record, as well as his erosion of religious freedom in India.

Some also felt that the song was an indirect target towards the Indian government’s move to remove chapters from school textbooks on Mughal rulers.

ohh greaaat. good god. that sounds like… wow. if it was done to troll the very secular and very inclusive prime minister of india cuz it's from a movie called jodhaa akbar & the music has been composed by a.r. rahman, great job, maybe.
but now let's listen to the original. https://t.co/2YF7lCt5uV pic.twitter.com/RK8rnRfSzg

— Pramit (@pramitheus) June 22, 2023

One user wrote: “The irony of an urdu song from a film glorifying mughal emperor Akbar.”

The irony of an urdu song from a film glorifying mughal emperor Akbar https://t.co/4aPbINl4To

— Rana Ayyub (@RanaAyyub) June 23, 2023

Performance aside, love how ironic choice of music is to welcome fascist anti-Muslim Modi. Both songs are pinnacle of Urdu poetry in Bollywood, the characters in both are Muslim kings, & jashnebahara is a song questioning the festivities itself, humanity yeh dekh ke hairaan hai https://t.co/dlc7xSkp9t

— tarbooza kharbooz (@nakaamrade) June 22, 2023