Filmmaker Anubhav Sinha on Wednesday accused Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) of allegedly copying his song ‘Bambai Main Ka Ba’ for their Bihar election campaign song. In a strongly-worded statement on Twitter, Sinha wrote that he owned the copyrights to the recently released song, which starred Manoj Bajpayee. Sinha has also directed the music video of ‘Bambai Main Ka Ba’.
In the statement, Sinha wrote, “I can’t not say this. If I don’t say it I will have a problem with myself. My friends tell me to keep quiet and I love them too. But… BJP has put out a campaign song for Bihar elections. The song is a blatant and unabashed copy of a song, ‘Bambai Mein Ka Ba,’ which I released six weeks back. A song that I own 100% copyrights of,” he wrote.
BJP’s campaign song ‘Bihar Main Ee Ba’ is a rip-off from his original song, Sinha claimed. While Sinha and Bajpayee’s rap song focused on the plight of Bhojpuri-speaking migrants, BJP’s latest song is titled ‘Bihar Mein Ee Ba’ meaning ‘this is what Bihar Has’.
“BJP is a party that governs this country and this sets a terrible example of the way they respect the Intellectual Property Rights of others. No one ever reached out to me for my permission. In an ideal world, this would cost money that they can easily afford. I am sure there is a reason why they didn’t,” the statement further read.
“I am happy to believe that this is an oversight of the senior members and I’m happy to let it go. Also, this is beyond my means and powers to take it to court. Yes, I had to say this. I only expect the courtesy that the supporters don’t troll me for saying this,” the director concludes.
Sinha captioned the post, “Please listen to this song. This doesn’t even use the word Bihar once.”