Mumbai
Lata Mangeshkar dashes off a letter to the media refuting reports that she ever spoke to any newsperson on the Peddar Road flyover issue.
Updated : Nov 21, 2013, 01:44 PM IST
Lata Mangeshkar dashes off a letter to the media refuting reports that she ever spoke to any newsperson on the Peddar Road flyover issue
The Letter:
My name has cropped up repeatedly in the media on the Peddar Road flyover issue. In fact, I have not spoken on this topic in the recent past to print or television journalists or anyone else. The news report quoting me as having said that I would leave Mumbai if the Peddar Road flyover was built was entirely baseless and mischievous. It is the imagination someone whom I do not know. But the whole affair has caused me anguish, nonetheless. I deny having made such comments.
I and my family have been involved in social movements, directly or indirectly, for many years. I understand public interest. What I do not understand is the journalism now. I have good relations with journalists. But nowadays, non-news is made news. And the victim of such news then has to issue letters of clarification. I am unaccustomed to these things.
I hope that if I choose to remain silent on a topic, the media will report that I have remained silent. It will interpret my silence the way it suits them.
Thanking you,
Lata Mangeshkar
Did she sing a different tune earlier?
Lata Mangeshkar in her telephonic interview to DNA on March 25, said, “One individual cannot make a difference, everyone has come together to take a stand in public.
“We will first have to talk to the chief minister. If this flyover comes up there will be problems. We will have to bring a stay order on the work, but we will need to talk to our lawyer first.”
On the same day in an interview to a leading publication said, “If the Peddar flyover is constructed, I will leave Mumbai city.”
On March 28, a television news channel reported Lata Mangeshkar issuing a press release, complaining that she was being unnecessarily targeted.
She also said she had not spoken to anyone in the media.