Deep Sidhu, Man Blamed For Red Fort Chaos, Missing?
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Deep Sidhu, the Punjabi actor-turned-activist, has gone missing since the tractors’ rally turned aggressive after a section of farmers strayed from the planned route on Republic Day. After the clashes on Tuesday, the role of the Punjabi actor has come under heavy scrutiny. He was last seen in the January 26 chaos, among the crowd that deviated to Delhi’s iconic Red Fort and planted a Nishan Sahib flag on an empty rampart.
In video footage from the incident, Sidhu was caught fleeing from the spot as the situation aggravated. He jumps onto a motorbike and escapes. Farmers have accused him of planting the “Nishan Sahib” or Sikh religious flag at the Red Fort, an act that has provoked outrage, especially on social media. Images of protesters armed with sticks occupying the 400-year-old Mughal monument has drawn criticism even from those who backed the farmers’ agitation.
Deep Sidhu had, in a Facebook post last evening, defended the act, saying the protesters did not remove the national flag but put up the “Nishan Sahib” as a symbolic protest. He also claimed that it was a spontaneous act. “To symbolically register our protest against the new farm legislation, we put up ‘Nishan Sahib’ and a farmer flag and also raised the slogan of Kisan Mazdoor Ekta,” said Mr Sidhu. He asserted that the national flag was not removed from the flagpole at the Red Fort.
Pointing at the “Nishan Sahib” — a triangular saffron flag bearing Sikh religious symbols – he said it represented the country’s “unity in diversity”. Sidhu said such anger was natural in a mass movement “when the genuine rights of people” are ignored. “In today’s situation, that anger flared up.” He said the protesters did not go to Delhi to hurt anyone or damage public property. “We held a peaceful protest without destroying anything or causing any damage to the public property… we exercised our democratic right peacefully. If we think one person or a personality could do such a big mobilisation of people, then it will be wrong.”
But various farmer leaders have distanced themselves from him and accused him of acting on behalf of the government to taint a peaceful protest.
Meanwhile, social media has broken into a raging post, slamming Sidhu for perverting the tractors’ rally “intentionally, as part of a conspiracy against the farmers”. However, on the other hand, a section of people have dismissed such allegations against Sidhu.
The actor-activist came into the spotlight as an aide of Sunny Deol when he contested from Gurdaspur in Punjab in 2019. The actor has since disassociated himself from Sidhu. He put out a statement in December. Yesterday, Sunny Deol posted another statement: “Today what happened at Red Fort has saddened me. I had earlier too, on December 6, made it clear that neither I nor my family, has anything to do with Deep Sidhu.”
The Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of some 40 farmer unions leading the farmer protest, alleged that some “antisocial elements” had infiltrated their otherwise peaceful movement. Rajesh Tikait of the Bharat Kisan Union said: “Deep Sidhu is not a Sikh, he is a worker of the BJP. This is a movement of farmers and will remain so. Some people will have to leave this place immediately – those who broke barricading will never be a part of the movement.” Another leader involved in yesterday’s protest, Satnam Singh Pannu of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said: “Whatever happened at Red Fort is because of Deep Sidhu. Why didn’t the police stop him at Red Fort? He is close to the ruling party.”
The post Deep Sidhu, Man Blamed For Red Fort Chaos, Missing? appeared first on Gulistan News.
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January 27, 2021 at 10:45PM
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