CPI(M) General Secretary M. A. Baby has expressed deep regret over the demolition of the house of the world-renowned shehnai maestro Bismillah Khan in Varanasi.
In a social media post, Baby noted that Varanasi is the Lok Sabha constituency of Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He stated that this landmark of the nation’s cultural heritage could have been preserved, and that the Prime Minister himself could have intervened—but he did not.
Baby stated that Ustad Bismillah Khan was born into a culture rich in mutual harmony—a tradition he went on to spread across the globe. Sadly, it is a reality today that in Modi’s ‘Viksit Bharat’ (Developed India), this very tradition has been rendered insignificant.
Former Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh and Samajwadi Party President Akhilesh Singh Yadav has criticized the Uttar Pradesh government.
In this controversy, the Varanasi Municipal Corporation has stated to the media that the decision to demolish Ustad Bismillah Khan’s house was made by his family. On the other hand, his grandson, Sibtain Khan—speaking on behalf of the family—has said that it was the municipal administration that proposed demolishing the house to build a museum. The ninety-year-old structure had fallen into a poor state.
In this context, Baby mentions that it was well known that real estate developers had their greedy eyes set on Bismillah Khan’s family home. She notes that Bismillah Khan had once received an invitation from America to establish a music school there; however, he refused to leave his beloved Banaras, asking, “Where else would I find a Banaras in America?” And today, the very building associated with his memory has been demolished.
@freemang2001gmail-com
