Renowned classical singer Ustad Hamid Ali Khan has revealed that former Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee offered him the opportunity to move to India.
Hamid Ali Khan recently participated in a show where he discussed various topics, including his professional life.
During the show, Khan said, “In 1979, the government of Pakistan sent me, Asad Amanat Ali Khan, along with Ustad Mehdi Hasan, for a big music program at the Indian Darul Hukot in New Delhi. The event was attended by many notable personalities, including Indira Gandhi, Dilip Kumar, and Manoj Kumar.”
According to Khan, when Asad and he took the stage, there was a stir in the audience because of their young age. People were surprised that such young singers were sent from Pakistan for such a competitive program, but their performance impressed everyone.
“After this program, the then-Indian Foreign Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee invited us to his house for dinner. When we arrived, he told us he was very impressed by us and offered us the opportunity to leave Pakistan and move to India,” he recalled.
“At that time, Vajpayee said he would provide whatever we needed if we agreed to move to India, with the condition that we would become Indian nationals. We responded, ‘Sir, our entire family is in Pakistan; we cannot move to India. Thank you very much, but we will continue travelling to and from India,” he had responded to Indian PM.
