Singer Abhijeet Bhattacharya, in a series of tweets, supported Shiv Sena's stand against Pakistani ghazal singer Ghulam Ali from performing in Mumbai, saying that 'nation and patriotism' took priority over music and branded the maestro as a 'dengue artist.'

Abhijeet tweeted "These shameless people have no self-respect, no work except terrorism. So called Hindu political parties jst shout 4 mileage bt never tk action agnst these Dengu Artists from terrorist country.These qawwals don't come here on their merit but due to paki Dalals #prestitute and @MaheshNBhatt."

The Shiv Sena backed the singer's comments and said we welcome his statement as he speaks for the nation.

Filmmaker Mahesh Bhatt, actress Shabana Azmi and designer Wendell Rodricks have expressed their discontent towards Ghulam Ali's ban saying that music knows no boundaries, while Pakistan's censor board chief hoped that the Indian government will handle the issue in a responsible manner.