Chandigarh, July 09, 2022 (PPI-OT):YouTube has taken down popular Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal’s song “Rihaee”, which calls for the release of Sikh prisoners, arrested by the Modi regime and previous governments for their support to Khalistan movement.

According to Kashmir Media Service, the social media platform in a statement said, “Content is unavailable. This content is not available on this country [India] domain due to a legal complaint from the [Modi] government”.

The development comes days after YouTube pulled down slain Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s song “SYL”, which was released posthumously, following a similar complaint by the Indian government.

Reacting to the development, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal asked New Delhi to revoke the “ban” Grewal’s song.

Badal said the song, “Rihaee”, reflects sentiments of the Sikh community, which is perturbed over the continuous incarceration of Sikhs despite the completion of their jail term. Kanwar Grewal has done nothing more than using poetry to highlight this grievance besides demanding that history books should not be rewritten, Badal said in a statement.

“This does not call for a ban under any circumstances,” he added. “Such bans have the capacity to create a wrong impression about India”. “We cannot be seen to be suppressing the freedom of speech which is enshrined in our constitution,” he said.

“The ban on the ‘Rihaee’ song comes soon after the ban on the posthumous song ‘SYL’ sung by renowned artist, Sidhu Moosewala, which also reflected the aspirations of Punjabis who do not want their water to be diverted to Haryana through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal,” he said.

For more information, contact:
Kashmir Media Service
Phone: +92-51-4435548, +92-51-4435549
Fax: +92-51-4861736
Email: info@kmsnews.org
Website: www.kmsnews.org