[vestingz]

> The first PM - Jawahar Lal Nehru - banned a certain musical instrument from state radio as he personally disliked it.

That is false. It was rather yet another colonial endeavour:

"In 1940, the harmonium was banned from All-India Radio, theretofore the largest single employer of harmoniumists in India. John Foulds, a prolific composer and the European music director of All-India Radio, Delhi, was largely responsible for this ban. [...] In 1938 Foulds published an article called “The Harmonium” in which he suggested that it be banned because its tuning was incompatible with Indian classical music. Echoing a term coined by fellow theosophist Margaret Cousins, he called it the “Harm-Onium” in this article. But more significantly, he called it “un-Indian.” Shortly afterward, Lionel Fielden, the Controller of Broadcasting at the time, sent out a circular banning the use of the harmonium as an accompanying or solo instrument in Indian classical music broadcasts." (Matt Rahaim (2011). That Ban(e) of Indian Music: Hearing Politics in The Harmonium. The Journal of Asian Studies, 70, p. 673)

[SanjayMehta]

Interesting. I first heard about the ban from a tabla player in the mid 80s and took it at face value. I couldn't remember which instrument.

I see the paper has quotes from Nehru which aren't exactly supportive of the instrument, so I guess that's why most people still associate him with the ban.