West Bengal's renowned playback singer Lagnajita Chakraborty alleged she was heckled at and physically harassed while performing a devotional song at a private function on Saturday.
Lagnajita Chakraborty told news agency ANI that a man charged towards her with the "intention to hit" her after she sang the devotional song 'Jago Maa' from the movie 'Devi Chowdhurani'.
She identified the man as Mahboob Mallick, who, she said, wanted her to sing "something secular."
Speaking with news agency ANI, Chakraborty said she was performing at a school when the incident happened, "I had started my show at around 7 pm and it was going smoothly. At around 7:45 pm, I was done singing seven songs and I was going to start with my eighth one on the list..."
She said the seventh song she sang was 'Jago Maa' from the movie 'Devi Choudhurani', which was released during this Pujo.
"While I was interacting with the audience after this song, I suddenly saw one man from the audience charging towards the stage...," she said.
She claimed that man "came very close to my face. The school where I was performing was recording the whole concert, which is very normal, as every organiser does it. But I don't have access to that video recording because it belongs to the school."
"If somebody can access the video, if it comes out in public, then everybody can see that Mahboob Mallick charged towards the stage with the intention of hitting me," she alleged.
"In plain words, he wanted to beat me up... While people rushed to save me and were pulling him away, he shouted, "Enough of Jago Maa, now sing something secular'," Lagnajita Chakraborty said.
She further claimed that the man addressed her, calling her "tu". She said, "Bangla is a beautiful language with many words that can be used to refer to a person, but he called me 'tu', which I am not okay with."
"That's not part of our culture. We don't do that to an unknown person or a guest. It is used for very near and dear ones or is used as an abuse...," she said.
Chakraborty said that after the incident, she went to the Bhagwanpur Police Station, and filed a GD. "I have full faith in my police and administration, and I know such an incident will not happen again...," she said.
"I have another show in the coming days in the Arambagh area, and I am going to sing 'Jago Maa' as my 7th number. I know the police and administration will ensure that I sing Jago Maa and do not get beaten up for it, and I return home safe and sound...," the playback singer said.
SP of Purba Medinipur, Mithun De, told ANI, "This is an unfortunate incident. The moment we came to know about it, we immediately decided to arrest him. We had been carrying out raids because he was absconding."
"We arrested him today and will present him in court tomorrow. We will demand his remand so that we can carry out further investigations. We are in touch with the singer also," police said.
The case is currently under investigation.
The incident triggered sharp political reactions, with BJP leader Shankudeb Panda claiming that Mallik is an active TMC worker, news agency PTI reported.
CPI(M) leader Sujan Chakraborty also condemned the act and blamed the state government for such a situation.
Trinamool Congress spokesperson Aroop Chakraborty termed the incident "condemnable" and asserted that it would be wrong to link the TMC for every incident.