Guns to Roses: Congress Sings Different Tune on Rapper Sidhu Moose Wala

Sidhu Moose Wala, the popular-yet-controversial Punjabi rapper, joined the Congress on Friday and is likely to contest the upcoming Punjab Assembly elections. The singer was inducted into the Congress by Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi and state unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu.

Welcoming Moose Wala into the party, Channi said the rapper became a “big artist with his sheer hard work and won hearts millions of people with his songs”. Sidhu, meanwhile, tweeted a pun on sharing his name with the singer.

Sidhu Moose Wala, whose real name is Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, hails from Moosa village in Mansa district where his mother is a village head.

The induction of Moose Waala into the Congress has raised eyebrows given that the singer has faced criticism for promoting gun culture through his songs and has even been booked under the Arms Act during the previous Amarinder Singh-led Congress government.

In May 2020, Moose Wala was booked under various provisions of the Disaster Management Act and sections of the Arms Act in Barnala after photographs surfaced of him firing an AK-47 rifle at a firing range during Covid-19 lockdown.

In July 2020, his single Sanju went viral for drawing parallels between the singer and actor Sanjay Dutt’s trysts with the law. The video for Sanju in fact began with a news clip of the previous Arms Act case against the singer. It was heavily criticised for glorifying guns and drugs, following which Sidhu Moose Wala was booked under IPC sections 188 (disobedience to order), 294 (obscene acts and songs) and 504 (provocation to break public peace).

The singer and eight of his associates were also booked under the same sections by Sangrur police for using 9mm pistol at the Ladda Kothi firing range.

Despite cases against him in two districts, Moose Wala was never arrested and only fined when he was caught driving an SUV with tinted glasses in June in Nabha. In February, Mansa police booked Moose Wala based on the Punjab and Haryana High Court ruling that banned the glorification of drugs, gun and liquor. Then chief minister Amarinder Singh had directed state police to initiate strict action against singers found promoting violence and gun culture in Punjabi songs.

Sources told News18 on Friday that despite the cases against him in Mansa, the Congress may want Moose Wala to contest from here in the upcoming elections. A section of Congress workers, however, have objected to the idea and threatened revolt if Moose Waala is given Mansa ticket. Sources added that Moose Wala is likely to accompany Sidhu to New Delhi to meet party leader Rahul Gandhi.

Reacting to the singer’s induction in the Congress, the BJP said the grand old party was promoting “gangsters, gun culture and separatist forces” in Punjab. BJP national general secretary Tarun Chugh said the move had “exposed the Congress’s nefarious designs to destabilise Punjab”.

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