He was not the only one willing to wage a war against the government. The anger, the acerbic quotes and the defiance was common to all the music afficianados that Express Newsline spoke to today. Some of them even attributed the government's anti-rock policies to its poll debacle in the Lok Sabha election!

Taking the cue, perhaps, from the classic Guns `N' Roses album Appetite For Destruction a bunch of collegians from Sydenham College, Churchgate, remarked: "They (state) wanna antagonise us, antagonise us *&%œ! If there is a morcha to protect the rock culture of Rang Bhavan then we will take part init."

Navalkar, however, clarified today that he was not against rock music per se. It was only the vulgarity in the lyrics that he was after. "To curb the trend of vulgarity I have instructed the Scripts Scrutiny Committee to be more vigilant before clearing any performance -- be it in Hindi, Marathi or a rock show for that matter."

He added that there was nothing new in his order and pointed out that the relevant rules have existed since 1974. It was just that he had decided on their strict implementation now. "People should not mistake this for opposing rock music," he said.

However, asked if he would allow Rang Bhavan to be cleared for staging the Independence Rock Concert on August 15, the minister said: "That may not be possible as extensive renovations will be carried out at the amphitheatre in the monsoons and we may need the theatre for our own state functions on Independence Day."

Rohinton Poonawalla, one of the organisers of the Independence Rock and a partner of Farhad Wadia of AMPEntertainment is, however, not convinced of the government's good intentions. He said he and his partners were finding it increasingly difficult to hold rock events on account of Navalkar's unyielding stand. "This is the first time we are raising this issue. Rock is dying in the cultural capital of India -- Mumbai. I have met Navalkar many times in the recent past and it is sad that the state does not appreciate rock music at all."

Rohinton said he may now approach the Thackerays to keep the music playing. "One of the main reasons for the rout of the BJP-Shiv Sena alliance in the state during the last Lok Sabha elections was because the youngsters saw its hypocrisy. On one hand you clear the vulgar Hindi film lyrics and even allow Dandiya Raas till late in the night, and on the other you want to wind up a rock concert by 10.30 pm," he said. Parul Gosain of Channel [V] said: "Rock music is a global expression and curtailing it would be fundamentally wrong. The youth will simply lose trust in the governmentthis way."

Radio Jockey Anish Trivedi felt that no matter how hard the state tried to censor rock, people would continue to enjoy the music one way or the other.

Educationist and Senate Member of the University of Mumbai, Amarjit Manhas, too does not support censorship. "It is okay for students to enjoy a rock concert so long as they do not neglect their studies and are not influenced by certain offensive lyrics." MTV Programme Director Mishal Verma, said he did not know how to react. "Music is a universal language and it gives you a happy feeling; but even on our channel we do avoid overtly violent or sexy songs. So the same could apply to rock shows in future," he said.