Lucknow, January 17: Sufi-Kathak performer Manjari Chaturvedi was allegedly asked to stop her performance midway at an event organised by Uttar Pradesh government in Lucknow for presenting a Qawwali. According to reports, the music was stopped when her performance was going on and an announcement was made for the next act. Uttar Pradesh: Government School's Urdu Teacher Gets Show Cause Notice for Asking Students to Greet Him ‘Salaam’.

The noted dancer was allotted 45 minutes for her performance. However, she was stopped midway. "When I inquired, I was told that qawwali cannot happen. My performance was stopped because I was performing a qawwali. This is the first time that my performance was stopped," she was quoted as saying by India Today.

A News18 report stated that the first sequence of her act-based on Vrindavan- was performed without any interruption. However, when she moved on to her second sequence, the music was reportedly stopped. Chaturvedi also claimed that she had heard someone saying, "Qawwali Nahi ho Sakti yahan par" (Qawwali cannot be performed here)."

Reacting to the development, the state government said that her performance was stopped as the event was running late and had to be finished before arrival of Chief Minister Yogi Adityanath.

"Since the programme was running late, it had to be trimmed. Manjari Chaturvedi had done two performances and third was underway. Since the programme was running late and there was a Braj performance that was to take place and we wanted all performers to get a chance, the act was stopped. The performance was cut short due to organizational compulsions and not due to any religious or linguistic bias," a government official said.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on Jan 17, 2020 07:47 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).