Sidhu Moose Wala’s killing a reflection of Punjab’s dark underbelly

Well-known Punjabi folk singer and rapper Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu aka Sidhu Moose Wala has been cremated but left many questions dangling. We know that gangsters were behind the killing with the names of Canada-based Gangster Goldy Brar as well as Lawrence Bishnoi, currently lodged in Jail No. 8 at Tihar, and his aides Kala Jathedi and Kala Rana coming forth as main conspirators.

Gang wars can be ruthless. Of the 30 rounds fired at Moose Wala from AK 47 and AK 94 assault rifles, about 22 bullets were lodged in his body as per the post-mortem report. It is suspected that Moose Wala was killed to avenge the murder of a youth Akali leader Vicky Middukhera last year in which Moose Wala's aide Shaganpreet was one of the accused. Shaganpreet had fled to Australia immediately after the incident. Apparently, Sidhu had been assigned four commandos of Punjab police as security cover, which was withdrawn just one day before his murder.

Clearly, there was a dark underbelly to the rapper’s life, as he kept raking up controversy after controversy. He was not just at odds with Bishnoi or Goldy Brar, he and rapper Karan Aujla were also rivals and kept launching attacks on each other through social media and during live performances.

Sidhu was also accused of openly promoting gun culture. For example, his YouTube account has a picture of him with an AK 47. He had been filmed using or training on an AK 47 with five other policemen for which he was booked under the Arms Act. He had briefly gone underground after this but was later granted bail. Moose Wala shockingly glorified the incident by releasing a song ‘Sanju’ wherein he celebrated being charged under the same section for illegal possession and display of weapons as Bollywood actor Sanjay Dutt.

But more appalling still was his subtle support of Khalistan. At the height of the farmers' agitation in 2020, Sidhu had lashed out at Delhi’s power control and sang about Punjab as an independent motherland. He had also used pictures of Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale and some scenes of Khalistani sympathiser Bharpur Singh Balbir’s speech of the 1980s. In another interview, he called Bhindranwale a ‘sant’ and a role model.

But strangely enough, he later joined the Congress party, which most separatists find to be odium because of Indira Gandhi and Operation Bluestar as well as her assassination and the subsequent anti-Sikh riots of 1984 in Delhi.

After Congress was stymied in elections this year and Moose Wala himself faced defeat at the hands of AAP’s Vijay Singla from Mansa seat, Sidhu released another song ‘Scapegoat’ in which he criticised supporters of the Aam Admi Party for being ‘traitors’.

Given these confounding paradoxes, one wonders if Sidhu Moose Wala was himself inclined towards gun culture or promoted it at behest of gangsters. His killing has certainly brought forth the fact that Punjab has seen a sharp rise in gang wars in recent years. For example, the blast at the Mohali intelligence headquarters recently was also executed by a gangster turned terrorist Harvinder Singh Rinda, who is currently hiding in Pakistan.

Similarly, one needs to evaluate whether he genuinely supported separatism – of course, the agitation against farm laws had riled the state. But separatist elements especially based on foreign soil had a hand in promoting violence and lawlessness. For example, separatist Gurpatwant Pannu enjoys very little support on the ground in Punjab but missed no opportunity to gain publicity. With Moose Wala’s killing, he issued a warning to Punjabi singers to support separatism or else face the consequences. Clearly, Pannu is just trying to capitalise on the volatile situation.

Sidhu Moose Wala's killing therefore can somewhere be viewed as a sad reflection of the narrative in Punjab. The gun culture, gang wars and attempts by separatists to fuel instability.