`Band, baja aur election’: DDC candidates hire folk singers to pull crowd in rallies

Srinagar: Abdul Hamid Rather, an independent DDC candidate from Pattan constituency, posted a message on Facebook that he will be addressing a rally in the area.

The following day his rally was attended by a sea of people. Reason: He had hired popular singer Yaqoob Burnani to entertain the people.

The rally began with a performance by Burnani. The singer was the biggest crowd-puller than the candidate himself. People cheered and jeered as Burnani sang popular numbers.

Since that day, Rather has is hiring popular folk singers to entertain people attending his election rallies.

“Yaqoob is one of my supporters and people love his singing. But it is not like people don’t come to hear my speeches.  My voice has a thrill and people loved to listen to me. In Guiwa, people even asked the singer to stop singing as they wanted to listen to me,” Rather told The Kashmir Monitor.

From `Band Paether’ to `Bache-Nagma‘, the DDC candidates are roping local artists to pull the crowd during election rallies.

In Baramulla’s Pattan constituency, which is going for polls on December 19, nearly half a dozen candidates are using singers to attract crowds.

Fayaz Ahmad Dar, a DDC candidate from Pattan constituency too roped a singer to entertain the crowd before he read out his manifesto.

“We held a mega rally yesterday in which 20 vehicles were used by our supporters. People love to hear Fayaz Sahab and our supporters include singers and dancers,” said one of his workers.

In Sangrama constituency, Apni Party candidate Shoaib Lone used folk artists to enthrall the audience at his rallies. During one of his rallies, folk artists performed ‘Bande Paether’.

“We performed regularly for him and people really enjoyed it. Hundreds of people have been attending the rallies,” said a folk artist, who has been sitting idle for the last two years now.

Folk singers are having a field day as DDC polls have helped them to earn their livelihood and support their families.