The controversy with Canadian Singer, Shubhneet Singh, popularly known as Shubh is going around like wildfire. The artist is having massive and heavy boycotts and backlash in the country over a social media post he shared that is believed to support the Khalistan movement.
What Happened?
Canadian singer Shubh, full name Shubhneet Singh, is known for songs like ‘Don’t Look’ with Irman Thiara, ‘We Rollin’ and ‘Offshore’.
However sometime in early this year, the 26-year-old reportedly shared an artwork on his Instagram with the caption “Pray for Punjab”.
The issue here was that the artwork was a map of India but apparently, it was distorted since it did not include Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and northeast as part of the country.
This was instantly picked up on social media with people tagging him as a Khalistan supporter and more.
The youth wing of BJP, Bharatiya Janta Yuva Morcha also called that his tour in India and other concerts he had should be cancelled since he was allegedly a Khalistani sympathiser.
BJYM President Tajinder Singh Tiwana was quoted saying “Shubh has more than 1 million followers on social media, including youth from India. Recently, on March 23, he posted a map of India without Jammu and Kashmir and Punjab on his Instagram account, and another post in the form of a post-story under the name ‘Pray for Punjab’. This is a direct violation of India’s integrity. There is no place for such traitors in our country.”
They also reportedly had submitted a memorandum to the Mumbai Police Commissioner the BJYM President said “We have given a memorandum to the organizers and Mumbai police to cancel the program peacefully and if appropriate action is not taken, we will protest. Through the memorandum, we have demanded the registration of an FIR against rapper Shubh.”
In their complaint, they also wrote “Shubh is openly a Khalistani supporter and if he is allowed to hold a concert here, he will be influencing a lot of youth in Mumbai and our country to support his agenda…He has evidently proven that he is a pro-Khalistani activist and openly supports their agenda and [he] is also influencing the youth of the country to do the same and wage a war against the Government of India by posting such absurd and derogatory post about Government of India.”
Read More: Here’s Why Diljit Dosanjh’s ‘Punjab ’95’ Won’t Be Premiering At TIFF
Why Did Shubh Share The Post?
In March of 2023, Shubh shared the post after the Punjab government had issued a digital blackout and suspended mobile internet services across the state. This had been done during the police investigation on self-proclaimed Sikh preacher and ‘Waris Punjab De’ chief Amritpal Singh and his associates.
Illustrator and graphic artist Amandeep Singh, also known as ‘Inkquisitive’ and the creator of the artwork, posted on 17th September in defence of Shubh.
He wrote “my brother shubh, shared my art. it was a visual expression on a police man taking the plug out of panjab due to the ‘blackout in panjab’. woke up being called khalistani’s, alongside anyone that shared it, and now it’s got to this. you can’t make this stuff up. sad reality.”
The artist had earlier too given a clarification, explaining on Instagram that his artwork was “not done intentionally to provoke any sort of separate state agenda”.
He also said “… apologies to those living in Jammu and Kashmir or any other big or smaller state not showcased. to those who may feel offended by feeling their hometown or land is not part of India, it is not my intentions [sic], far from it. If anything i was just keeping that side of the map unclear and dark as Punjab wasn’t lit up…my platform is always used to share topics (as much as my career allows me to) – on injustices around the world.”
The Aftermath
Soon after the posts started going viral, cricket Virat Kohli unfollowed Shubh from Instagram along with several others like KL Rahul, Hardik Pandya, and Suresh Raina. Kohli had previously called Shubh his favourite artist and showed appreciation for his music on his social media.
Electronics brand boAt which was sponsoring the tour announced earlier in the day that they were withdrawing their sponsorship for the tour.
They wrote “At boAt, while our commitment to the incredible music community runs deep, we are first and foremost a true Indian brand. Therefore, when we became aware of the remarks made by artist Shubh earlier this year, we chose to withdraw our sponsorship of the tour.”
Ticket booking app BookMyShow also put out an official statement declaring that the Still Rollin Tour of Shubhneet Singh in India is now cancelled and they will be issuing refunds to all the people who had purchased tickets.
In their tweet, they wrote “Singer Shubhneet Singh’s Still Rollin Tour for India stands cancelled. To that end, BookMyShow has initiated a complete refund of the ticket amount for all consumers who had purchased tickets for the show.
The refund will be reflected within 7-10 working days in the customer’s source account of the original transaction.”
Image Credits: Google Images
Feature Image designed by Saudamini Seth
Sources: Livemint, The Indian Express, India Today
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