BJP state president Dilip Ghosh’s bid to connect on Twitter with Kishore Kumar fans on his birth anniversary on Tuesday backfired.

“Zindagi kaisi hai paheli haay, kabhi to hasaye kabhi yeh rulaye...ekdin sapno ka rahi, chala jaye sapno se aage kahan...” Ghosh tweeted in his tribute to the “famous singer and actor”, apparently oblivious to the fact that these lines were sung by another icon, Manna Dey.

The tweet — which also had pictures of Kishore and Ghosh — was taken down when Twitter users went after Ghosh for “choosing the wrong song”.

Salil Chowdhury had composed Yogesh’s lyrics for the 1971 Rajesh Khanna-Amitabh Bachchan starrer Anand. Kishore Kumar was not among the singers that Chowdhury had chosen for the iconic film whose songs are hummed even today. Manna Dey, Mukesh and Lata Mangeshkar had done the honours.

“To slip up on a song that ranks high in popularity even 50 years after it was recorded is no less than blasphemy,” said a singer. He added that he did expect politicians to do “a little homework” before sharing tributes on social media.

Ghosh claimed the “philosophy” of the Manna Dey number made him choose the song. “The idea was to focus on the philosophy of the song that deals with life as a journey,” he said.

So why was the tweet taken down and a new one without the song put up? “Since it was sung by someone else and some people were highlighting it as a mistake, I asked my team to take it down and make a fresh post,” said Ghosh.

On Tuesday, Ghosh also paid a tribute to Birendra Krishna Bhadra, famed for the legendary rendition of the Mahalaya, on his birth anniversary.
State BJP sources said they were not aware that Ghosh was fond of music. “If you are in politics, you have to play what the public wants, that’s what Dilip da is doing,” said a source.

Political analyst and sociologist Surajit Mukhopadhyay said the saffron party, regarded as a Hindi heartland force, was trying to go beyond its usual pantheon including Syama Prasad Mookerji, Deendayal Upadhyaya and Veer Savarkar. “There seems to be an attempt (by the BJP) to associate with the likes of Kishore Kumar who have universal resonance...to appropriate icons through the prism of populism.”

Ghosh acknowledged the importance of Bengali icons for the party. “Of course Bengali icons will be more important for us,” he said.

Additional reporting by Arkamoy Datta Majumdar