I am big fan of singer Sonu Nigam. But I will not miss him on Twitter

In the micro-blogging site, he was like the other self-proclaimed nationalists who follow the usual path to glory: rants, controversies and justifying attacks on others in the garb of “patriotic” feelings.

He labelled a section of the media as “just cold blooded pseudos not ready to learn from our history of traitors.” Nigam also expressed solidarity with a bully like singer Abhijeet, and, in a way, supported the latter’s abuses.

I didn’t expect to see this side of Nigam on Twitter. We already had a long list of self-appointed cheer leaders for “nationalist” causes. He just added to the cacophony.

In his career, Sonu Nigam was like a breath of fresh air. His voice had filled up, albeit partially, the large vacuum in Bollywood music in the death of Kishore Kumar. He was an idol for aspiring singers. His soft, trained voice was much sought-after by Bollywood heroes.

In his 24-year long, glorious singing career, Nigam never complained about loudspeakers being used for azaan. But only after he joined Twitter, and amid the rapidly sinking phase of his career, he discovered that use of loudspeakers at mosques disturbs his sleep. Why?

Singer Abhijeet might defeat Nigam by miles as a Twitter terror. He has labeled women activist as sex worker, called Pakistani actor Fawad Khan as Mrs. Karan Johar, and what not.

I met Abhijeet only once—at Mumbai for a TV-documentary on RD Burman. He choked with emotion as he remembered the old days when he waited endlessly outside the music recording room to meet RD for a minute. He remembered his debut song with RD (film: Anand aur Anand) and the period of intense struggle.

And now, as I see his tweets and public statements (at least till Twitter rightly blocked him), I wonder, is he the same Abhijeet. From a promising singer, Abhijeet Bhattacharya has been a failed artist, and possibly a failed human being.