Established music composer Ilaiyaraaja has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha by President Ram Nath Kovind, recently.
Ilaiyaraaja is also known as maestro and Isaignaani by his fans. The announcement was made by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Twitter by sharing a photo with the music composer along with a caption, “The creative genius of @ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. What is equally inspiring is his life journey- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha”.
The creative genius of @ilaiyaraaja Ji has enthralled people across generations. His works beautifully reflect many emotions. What is equally inspiring is his life journey- he rose from a humble background and achieved so much. Glad that he has been nominated to the Rajya Sabha. pic.twitter.com/VH6wedLByC
— Narendra Modi (@narendramodi) July 6, 2022
Twelve members are nominated to the Rajya Sabha by the President for a term of six years. These are people who made notable achievements in the fields of science, arts and literature etc. They are selected on the advice of the Prime Minister.
Athlete PT Usha from Kerala, Dharmasthala president Veerendra Heggade and Telugu screenwriter Vijayendra Prasad are also nominated.
Several months ago, Ilaiyaraaja drew criticism for comparing PM Narendra Modi with BR Ambedkar, in a foreword he wrote for the book Ambedkar & Modi: Reformer’s Ideas, Performer’s Implementation.
Ilaiyaraaja is a film composer, singer and songwriter who works in the Indian film industry, primarily in Tamil cinema.
He has composed more than 7,000 songs in over 1,400 movies, mainly in
Tamil. He has also worked in Hindi, Malayalam and Telugu cinema also.
He has also received Padma Bhushan and Padma Vibhushan, the second and third civilian awards given by the Indian government. He is known for introducing western musical elements in South Indian cinema.