Days after Mika Singh refuted Uttarakhand minister Subodh Unyal’s allegations that Daler Mehndi had consumed alcohol during a recent stage performance, Punjabi singer Maninder Buttar also refuted such claims made against him by the minister.
Addressing the minister directly, Maninder expressed deep grief over his claims. During an Instagram Live session on Monday, the singer recalled his 2019 performance in Uttarakhand and shared in Punjabi, “I performed for 1.5 hours, and an honorable minister came on stage, gave me a Pahari cap, and I performed the rest in that cap. I was told that it was the first time a young artist was performing, and there are 7000-7000 people.”
Maninder said the show went well, and he could not understand why the minister claimed that Maninder was beaten there. He requested that the entire recording be made public.
“I want the truth to come out. I respectfully request the honorable minister to upload the entire recording of that show so that everyone can see what actually happened and I can judge for myself if I have done anything wrong. I have done shows in Himachal and all over India but never hurt anyone so far. Nor have I ever sung anything wrong; the whole industry knows,” he added.
Maninder added, “Such things don’t look good on you. I am a very simple person. I was really shocked when I came to know that such things were said about me and my father on camera. I am a small artist and I have always tried to keep my family away from such controversies.”
He added that he has never performed under the influence of alcohol or any drug. “All I ask is for the full, edited recording of that show to be made public. Let people watch it, understand what really happened, and decide for themselves who is right and who is wrong,” Singer shared.
The controversy originally started at the Siddhapeeth Maa Kunjapuri tourism and development fair in Navi Tehri, where minister Subodh Unyal interrupted a live performance of Darer Mehndi and accused him of lip-syncing and being drunk.
Confronting him on stage, the minister took the name of Maninder Buttar and allegedly claimed that the singer had been beaten earlier during a tour of his area.
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