Padma Awards 2020: Padmi Shri Awardee Noted Bhajan Singer Munna Master Is Father Of Feroze Khan Caught Up In BHU Row

Ahead of the Republic Day, the Union Government has announced the list of 21 Padma-Shri awardees for this year.

One of the awardees include a popular Muslim bhajan singer called Munna Master. He belongs from a traditional Muslim family of Bagaru in Jaipur district. He is carrying forward the family tradition of singing Ram-Krishna bhajans.

He has penned various Ram-Krishna bhajans and his book ‘Shri Shyam Surabhi Vandana’ is quite popular in the area. In the Padma Shri awardee list, he is referred as the epitome of India’s syncretic ethos -- offers namaz, sings bhajans, knows Sanskrit, takes care of cows.

However, it must also be noted that he is the father of Dr Feroze Khan, who got entangled in BHU row couple of months ago.

In November last year, many students had opposed the appointment of Feroze Khan, a Muslim by faith, for teaching at the Department of Sanskrit Vidya Dharma Vijnan .

In a Ground Report by Swarajya, Swati Goel Sharma noted that the protesting students said that they were not against Firoze Khan teaching Sanskrit in BHU. Instead, they had been demanding his transfer to another faculties - either to the Arts faculty, which has a Sanskrit department or to some other faculty where Sanskrit is a medium.

Sharma also noted that contrary to many misleading reports, Khan was not recruited as a Sanskrit language teacher, but in the SVDV’s Sahitya (literature) department.