For her it was merely a platform to showcase her talent, but little did the 22-year-old Muslim woman from Karnataka knew that she would be trolled and abused for singing in a reality show. Suhana Sayed, who took part in the Kannada version of the singing reality show Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, sang Shreekarane...Srinivasane from the movie Gaja in praise of Lord Balaji in her audition.

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Though she was praised by the judges on the show, soon after the episode was aired on March 4, a Facebook group called ‘Mangalore Muslims’ accused her of tarnishing the community’s image.

“Do not think that you have achieved a great feat by winning appreciation from judges by singing a song in front of other men belonging to other religion,” read the post, which has now been removed.

The group which has over 45,000 followers, also attacked her parents’ for allowing her to take part in the show. “You have chosen the path to hell. But why are you encouraging others towards destruction?” read the post. It also asked her to remove the ‘sacred scarf’ as she does not have the quality to wear it.

The bigots downgrading her achievements said that children who learn the Quran in six months are real achievers, and that she has not achieved anything great. Kannada Music Director Arjun Janya said, “You have become the symbol of unity by singing a Hindu devotional song and music is a medium where people can unite.”

Meanwhile, people have come out in support of the 22-year-old critising the group who didn’t create an uproar over Muslim actors playing Hindu roles in movies. Woman activists Brinda Adige said that Sayed is unifying different religions together and that she should continue to showcase her talent.

“People who are condemning and trolling her on social media, need to understand that Islam is a beautiful religion. She is actually unifying different religions together. Why would the radical men speak ill of her? They must not use religion to subjugate anybody,” Adige said.

“Singing a devotional song of another religion is not an offence. Singers are ones who sing songs of all religions. Why create an issue over it? You can rarely name a singer who has not sung devotional songs of other religions. The best example is Yesudas,” read a post in support of Sayed.

As support for Suhana Sayed kept pouring in, ‘Mangalore Muslims’ reportedly put out another post claiming that she was not threatened or disrespected, but continued to accuse her of disrespecting Islam. “We criticised the fact that she sang about multiple gods while she follows a religion that believes in one god. We are not curtailing her freedom of speech, but she had no right to level baseless allegations against the religion. We criticise that,” said the post. The group also accused the  media of highlighting the story for TRPs.

“There should be no restrictions from any kind of regimen on my talent. Others should also come out and achieve what they want,” Sayed had said after her performance.

According to various media reports, the singer has gone into hiding since the backlash. Reports also suggest that her supporters are looking into filing a case against those abusing her online.

(with agency inputs)