Accused Of Instigating Farmers At Red Fort, Deep Sidhu Explains His Side Of How Things Unfolded
As the outrage grew, most farmers groups distanced themselves from Deep Sidhu and accused him of sabotaging the protests for the BJP, citing his close links with actor-turned MP Sunny Deol.
Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu first made headlines in the early days of the farmers' protest, when the thousands of protesters had began their march to Delhi.
Police were blocking the roads for the marching farmers at several places making it difficult for them to travel.
At one such blockade, Sidhu was seen trying to reason with the cops.
"Yeh inquilab hai sir. This is a revolution," he was heard saying in the video that went viral.
Yeh inquilab hai sir. This is a revolution...?#FarmersProtest
¡ª Ravi Nair (@t_d_h_nair) November 27, 2020
pic.twitter.com/hzztplunTm
A couple of months down the line, Sidhu is back in the headlines and this time too, in connection with the farmers' protests.
Amid the unprecedented chaos at the national capital on Tuesday, which saw thousands of farmers storming the Red Fort, ITO and other places.
AFP
One of them particularly stood out, at the iconic Red Fort where farmers were seen climbing the flag pole and hoisting the 'Nishan Sahib' and a farmer flag.
A section of the media had reported that the protesters had pulled down the national flag before hoisting their flags.
As the visuals of the flags triggered outrage among a large section of the society, it emerged that Sidhu was there and he was 'instigating' the farmers.
DeepSindhu today right under where National Flag was insulted!!
¡ª ???????? ???? (@rawatprashantt) January 26, 2021
Coincidence ????@RoflGandhi_ #FarmersProstests pic.twitter.com/YGfxdP5uJ4
As the outrage grew, most farmers groups distanced themselves from Sidhu and accused him of sabotaging the protests for the BJP, citing his close links with actor-turned MP Sunny Deol.
This is Deep Sidhu with Modi & Shah. He led the mob at Red Fort today & unfurled the Sikh religious flag there pic.twitter.com/dX9bQjAIim
¡ª Prashant Bhushan (@pbhushan1) January 26, 2021
Even the Samyukt Kisan Morcha (SKM) distanced itself from Sidhu and accused him of leading the farmers to the Red fort. The SKM said that Sidhu appeared on a stage on Monday night and gave a provocative speech promoting separatism to sabotage the farmers' protest.
BKU Haryana leader Gurnam Singh Charuni criticised Deep Sidhu for misleading youth to Red Fort and described him as a ¡°dalal (agent)¡± of the Union government. He made it clear that the farmers¡¯ agitation was not religious and it would remain the same in the future.
Under fire from various corners, Sidhu explained his side of the story in a Facebook live video.
Claims not a planned move
Sidhu claimed it was not a planned move and that they should not be given any communal colour or dubbed as fundamentalists or hardliners.
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 Sidhu.
AP
The flag represents the country's unity in diversity, he said while pointing towards 'Nishan Sahib', the triangular saffron flag with the emblem of 'Khanda', a two-edged sword, Chakra, a disc, and two Kirpans that cross each other at the handles.
He stated that the national flag was not removed from the flagpole at the Red Fort and that nobody raised a question over the country's unity and integrity.
Last week, the NIA had summoned Sidhu to appear before it in connection with its probe into the Sikhs for Justice (SFJ) case it had registered on December 15 last year.
Bobins Abraham is the Assistant News Editor at Indiatimes. He has more than twelve years of experience in TV and digital journalism. An avid student of history and geopolitics, he is a conservationist and environmentalist at heart. He writes on environment, sustainability, human-animal conflict and more.
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