Delhi club sparks row for agreeing to host 'Bhangijumping'
Delhi's Jazz music club 'Piano Man' has sparked a controversy for allegedly insulting the Dalit community by agreeing to host a band named 'Bhangijumping'. A change.org petition has also been created demanding shutting down of the "casteist club". The petition added that when the issue was brought to the club's notice, it justified the name 'Bhangi' calling it 'artistic expression'.
The Piano Man, a popular place for Jazz music, is located in Delhi's Safdarjung Enclave. The outlet found itself in the eye of a controversy storm for agreeing to host a music band called "Bhangijumping". A change.org petition has been created against 'Piano Man' demanding shutting down of the "casteist jazz club for its hate crimes against Dalits"."Bhangi is a scheduled caste community forced into manual scavenging and sweeping work in India. The word bhangi is considered a slur used to describe 'dirty addicts' and forward castes use it on each other as an insult, as well as use it towards the Bhangi community to dehumanise and reduce their identity to something associated with 'filth'", read the petition.Also read: The Dalits | Still untouchableThe petition said that when the meaning of 'Bhangi' was brought to the notice of club owner, Arjun Sagar Gupta, he "offered a passive aggressive clarification justifying the name Bhangijumping as a form of 'artistic expression'". Arjun's first Facebook post on the issue came on June 3 where he said, "There is a gap between the artist's understanding of the word and that of some people who have reacted very negatively. I can assure you that neither the artist (who is an extremely polite and respectful person) nor The Piano Man wanted to hurt anyone, and for that, we apologise. That said, we are vehement supporters of artistic freedom and will continue to be...always."The artist, after he learned about the fact that the name of his band could be misinterpreted and misunderstood by people, changed it to Akshay Kapoor. Talking to IndiaToday.in, Arjun said, "It is true that we were ignorant of the fact that the word is used as a casteist slur, and I can assure you that it wasn't the artist's or The Piano Man's intent to hurt any community. It is quite sad to see that people are being oblivious to the fact that the band's name has already been changed. The Piano Man has always been an inclusive space focused on spreading love, not hatred in any form." Many protested The Piano Man's decision to go ahead with the show, but the event was cancelled yesterday. This was announced by Arjun in another Facebook post he made on June 4 where he said, "I think I failed to understand how deeply this has affected some people." In the post, Arjun said, "I think it is best for me to sit and understand the situation better. As a human being, I can make mistakes and it is my sincerest goal to learn from them and improve." Talking to IndiaToday.in, Arjun said, "A friend rightly pointed it out to me that the issue of casteism is so deeply ingrained that many people are oblivious to it. I've been facing a lot of backlash online and many people tell me I should have known what the word means and should not have agreed to host the band. I do understand their point but what I want everybody to know is that had I known, I would not have agreed to this and I am all for being sensitised and doing my bit in sensitising others." The Change.org petitioner claimed that the friends of the band members hurled abuses and mocked the ones protesting and produced screen grabs of such Facebook comments as proof.Also read: Ann-shunned: Upper caste students reject food cooked by Dalit woman"The owner of Piano Man did nothing to intervene, stop the abuses and mockery and in fact 'liked' the offensive comments made against Dalits", the petition  read. India Today could not categorically verify this statement in the petition. Also read: This 11th class Dalit student in UP rips apart demonetisation like no oneAfter Arjun's first clarification was posted, some Facebook users made offensive comments. 