‘Rajgayak trivialised’

patiala:surinder singh of singh bandhu has questioned the punjab government's decision to bestow the title of rajgayak on hans raj hans. hans is to be conferred the title at amritsar on saturday. talking to times news network surinder singh said only baqir husain khan sahib -- the last survivor of patiala gharana, was worthy of the honour, but was being ignored.he said while he was not against hans being honoured or the populist singing style of hans, but before conferring a rare honour like rajgayak, the government should keep in mind the cultural traditions and the total contribution of a man in the field. singh said popularity was not a yardstick for any person's contribution. while there might have been thousands of popular singers in the past the honor of rajgayak was conferred only on rare maestros like tansen. the world famed vocalist said that there were four gharanas of khayal in india -- patiala, gwalior, kirana and agra gharanas. it is our good luck that baqir hussain khan is alive, but a matter of shame that the last survivor of this great patiala gharana is virtually ignored. he criticised universities of the state for not patronising artistes. sohan singh (padam shri) of punjabi university was not even given an honorary doctorate he said. punjabi university recently honoured hans with a life fellowship while putting in cold storage an application of a department of the university for conferring the fellowship on baqir hussain khan, who is the guru of puran shahkoti- the guru of hans raj hans. singh bandhu said hans should be honoured. meanwhile, in amritsar, spicmacay has lauded the state government's decision of honouring hans raj hans.