As the India tour of Canadian-Sikh singer Shubhneet Singh has been cancelled following a backlash over his Instagram story featuring a distorted map of India, the ‘artist’ behind the map has come out in support of the singer and played the victim. Amandeep Singh, who goes by the pseudonym “Inkquisitive,” posted a long note on his X profile on Thursday (September 20) wherein he claimed to be a target of “cyberbullying”.
“Inkquisitive” asserted that while his “Panjab” ‘artwork’ was about praying for the state of Punjab amidst the blackout, the narrative within 24 hours “changed from praying for Punjab to agenda against Jammu and Kashmir, beheading and distorting the map and to being an active Khalistani”.
Amandeep Singh claimed that the ‘artwork’ published on March 21 this year aimed at highlighting the blackout in Punjab and merely depicting a policeman taking the switch out of the Punjab region. The artist further mentioned that he did not intend to offend anyone while depicting the northern side of the map as faded or missing however, he did intend to highlight this area as dark due to the blackout.
“I painted a piece titled ‘Panjab’ and released this on march 21. Its entirety was to highlight the ‘blackout in Panjab’ and just that. showcasing a policeman taking the switch out of the Panjab region (due to the blackout). not one of my most thought-provoking pieces but one that was fuelled with common sense. unintentionally to offend, parts of the north side of the map was shown to be faded/missing. my focus was to highlight this area to be intentionally dark and ‘not lit’ due to the blackout,” Inkquisitive’s statement reads.
While the artist rightly states that his said artwork was not his most thought-provoking one, his assertion that “Panjab” was fuelled with common sense also does not hold water as even if he merely wanted to highlight the issue of blackout in Punjab, there was no need to depict Jammu and Kashmir and nearby states missing or faded.
Moving ahead, Inkquisitive said that he understood that the people residing in the states/areas shown faded on the map may felt neglected adding that he had apologised for that earlier. Amandeep Singh went on to accuse actress Kangana Ranaut of setting the Khalistani narrative with regard to the distorted map and singer Shubh sharing it.
After blaming Indian social media users and actress Kangana Ranaut, the artist went on to blame the “powerheads” of the Indian industry for the backlash he and singer Shubh have received ever since the controversy erupted.
He claimed that the “powerheads” of the Indian industry who already claimed that the piece of art was a deliberate “beheading of India” and “Khalistan movement” happened to see singer Shubh’s Instagram story where the singer only intended to “support those in challenging circumstances in Panjab”.
Moreover, Inkquisitive alleged that there are more powerful people in the industry, although the note finds multiple mentions of the word “industry” it is unclear whether the artist was referring to the Punjabi music industry or something else. He also mentioned that since the advent of the controversy, not a day has passed when he has not faced online abuse and received death threats to remove the ‘artwork’.
“This had resulted in continuous abuse, harassment and in recent days shubh’s current India tour to be cancelled by those more powerful in the industry who chose to listen to the crowds, not doing their own research. since march, not a day has gone by where a death threat, to remove the artwork has not been sent,” the statement reads.
@Shubhworldwide ⚔️🧡 pic.twitter.com/o5xjOl3HeY
— Inkquisitive 🎨 (@Inkquisitive) September 20, 2023
After playing victim, Amandeep Singh stated that he stands by his contentious artwork adding that after thirteen years (working as an artist) he finds it “shocking” that people are calling him out for spreading hate propaganda.
Amandeep Singh alias Inkquisitive also asserted that the Indian media did not deliberately mention his name or social media post with the original caption in reports about the said artwork. Moreover, he accused the media of being supportive of the “cancel culture” and the alleged “new narrative” of the “Panjab” artwork.
Interestingly, in another tweet, Inkquisitive shared the same artwork, however, this time the map showed the outlines of Jammu and Kashmir and other regions which missing in the original art piece.
As Amandeep Singh mentioned the original caption of the artwork, OpIndia checked his original Instagram post from March 22 about the said artwork. In the original upload on Instagram, Singh wrote a long caption explaining his artwork which he started and ended with learning from history. The caption mentions that the Indian government has imposed a blackout in Punjab and shut down the internet services in the wake of a threat to law and order by incitement to violence. He asserted that somehow the Indian government was targetting the “Sikh activists” and “Sikh media outlets”.
Coming back to his recent statement addressing the controversy, Amandeep Singh made his position clear and said that he stands with Shubh as he talked about living in a “toxic world and those in higher power setting the trend despite what intentions you have in your mind.”
— Inkquisitive 🎨 (@Inkquisitive) September 20, 2023
It is questionable why the artist merged Punjab with Haryana, and why the seven states in the northeast were missing from the ‘artwork’ if he only intended to highlight the blackout situation in Punjab.
This comes after rapper/musician Shubhneet Singh alias Shubh posted a story on his Instagram account on March 23, 2023, captioned “Pray for Punjab” showing a distorted map of India. He posted a photo of the map without the union territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and North-eastern states. The Canadian singer did this at a time when the Punjab Police was on the lookout to nab Khalistani terrorist Amritpal Singh. Shubh had openly supported Khalistani elements at the time.
The incident drew widespread condemnation from Indians at home and abroad. BJYM Mumbai President Tajinder Singh Tiwana submitted a memorandum to the police accusing Shubh of distorting the map of India and demanding that a case be filed against him. Moreover, cricketers Virat Kohli, KL Rahul and Hardik Pandya have also unfollowed Shubh on Instagram. Prior to the cancellation of Shubhneet Singh’s music tour in India, several brands including BoAt which was sponsoring his concerts withdrew its sponsorship. Soon after, short-video sharing application Moj, owned by Sharechat also announced its decision to take down the Canadian Khalistani sympathiser’s songs from its app.
