On March 21, Mo Dhaliwal of the Poetic Justice Foundation urged Barbadian singer and actress Rihanna to speak up for Punjab. In a tweet, he wrote, “Hey Rihanna, Punjab needs you. Civil liberties suspended. Human rights violated. Communication blocked.”
Rihanna had tweeted her followers to speak up during farmer protests against now-repealed agriculture laws. Later, it was revealed her tweet was part of a toolkit that Mo Dhaliwal of PJF and some Indian “activists”, including Disha Ravi, Nikita Jacob and others, created. Dhaliwal is a pro-Khalistani Canadian resident. Apart from Rihanna, former pornstar Mia Khalifa and dubious environment activist Greta Thunberg tweeted in favour of farmer protests. It was Greta who accidentally revealed the toolkit exposing Mo Dhaliwal and others.
Replying to his tweet, Twitter user BadGa1Kiki asked how much money he would pay Rihanna for speaking up. Dhaliwal said, “As much as she wants”.
Who is Mo Dhaliwal, and why does his tweet to Rihanna matters?
In February 2021, it was reported by The Print that sources believed Skyrocket, a PR firm where Khalistani Mo Dhaliwal is a director, paid $2.5 million to pop star Rihanna to tweet in favour of the farmer protests. In Indian currency, that is well over Rs.18 crores.
Mo Dhaliwal is the Founder and Director of Strategy at Skyrocket. He co-founded the Poetic Justice Foundation. He is a Khalistan supporter and has openly supported Khalistan. In September, when the Macdonald-Laurier Institute, a leading Canadian think tank based out of Ottawa, released a study on Pakistan’s role in nourishing Khalistani extremism, Dhaliwal used his NGOs platform to support Khalistan. Jagmeet Singh, the Canadian lawmaker, was also reportedly involved in the Tweet by Rihanna.
His associate Anita Lal, Community Relations Specialist at Windmill Microlending, co-founded PJF. She is the Executive Director of PJF. She is a Canadian resident and a Khalistan supporter.
They ran a campaign titled ‘Global Day of Action’ during farmer protests that went back as far as January 3, 2021. The group provided taglines, hashtags, tweet formats, posters, media kits, printable artwork and much more for the people who wanted to support them in the campaign. These images/posters were shared on PJF’s and the ‘Ask India Why’ campaign’s social media pages. These images/posters were available in vector format. The maximum size that one can print is 10ft x 20ft. Here are four examples of such posters.
The group identified several key target regions to spread their propaganda. Top among them was Canada, the USA, the UK, and Australia, where Sikhs and Punjabis prefer to study, work and settle down. Other target regions included Kenya, Denmark, Italy, Malaysia, Singapore, the Netherlands, and New Zealand. They also urged them to spread the material they provided among Sangat of Regional Organizations (Sangat is often used for a group of people attending religious or cultural gatherings). Using such groups, they aimed to spread their propaganda among the masses using social media and mainstream or vernacular media.
There was a subtle mention of support from Pakistan as well. The campaign was strongly backed by misinformation.
Crackdown on Amritpal Singh
On March 18, Punjab Police and central agencies launched a massive crackdown on pro-Khalistan separatist leader Amritpal Singh. So far, over 110 associates of Singh have been arrested. However, he is still on the run. Internet was suspended on March 18 for one day, but the suspension was extended for two more days. Internet services were resumed in some areas of Punjab on March 21.
Police have alleged that Singh was in contact with ISI and received funds from Pakistan. Furthermore, it has been reported that Singh was creating a private army in the guise of an anti-drug drive and de-addiction centre. Following the crackdown, official Indian Government establishments in London and San Francisco were attacked.
