On June 26, two days after its release, controversial Punjabi singer Sidhu Moosewala’s song ‘SYL’ was blocked in India by Youtube. The video platform has blocked the song for the Indian audience following a legal complaint by the Government of India. If someone wants to access the song from India, a message appears that reads, “Video unavailable. This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government.”
The song is available on streaming services
Though the song has been blocked for the Indian audience on YouTube, it is still playing on music streaming services, including Gaana, JioSaavan, Wink Music, Sound Cloud, and others. Notably, it is still available on YouTube Music as well for the Indian audience. It is unclear if the Government of India has blocked only the video version of the song or if the notice was sent to music streaming services as well.
The problematic song has all the elements to attract a ban
The song SYL was released four weeks after Moosewala’s murder. The problematic song has provocative lyrics and visuals. In the song, Moosewala talked about Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, and Chandigarh to Punjab. On November 1, 1966, post-independence Punjab was divided into three states, Punjab, Haryana, and Himachal Pradesh, on the basis of language.
The song also goes on to warn that if there is no alternative way, then Balwinder Jattana will return. Jattana was the terrorist who killed two senior engineers working on the SYL project in Chandigarh. Affiliated with Babbar Khalsa terrorist outfit, the Ropar resident Jattana killed Chief Engineer and the Superintending Engineer working on the SYL project in 1990. Following the murders, the construction on SYL stopped as the terrorised engineers refused to continue working on it. Jattana was later killed in a police encounter in 1991.
In the text on-screen during the song, Sidhu Moosewala goes on to call the SYL canal the causative agent of the Congress-led pogrom of Sikhs in Delhi in 1984. The flag hoisting at Red Fort by a Sikh mob on 2021 Republic Day also finds a place in the video of the song. The video also shows a bomb blast on an animated canal, pushing the idea that violence should be used to stop SYL.
Rebuttal song released by Haryanvi singer Masoom Sharma
In a rebuttal to the SYL song by Sidhu Moosewala, Haryanvi singer Masoom Sharma has released his own version of SYL in which he expressed his views that the water from SYL is Haryana’s right and no one can stop the state from getting the water as per the agreement.
