Call it an irony or an intuition of sorts, Sidhu Moosewala in one of his last video songs ‘The Last Ride’ released around two weeks back, in which can be seen posing with a gun pointed towards his head, sang: ‘Ho bahuteyan di hate da oh hissa banneya, bohat ohnu aithe chaunde chaunde mar gaye…duniye ch charchey tey jhande jhoolde…par ohnu shehar ch haraunde mar gaye.. jitt naalo zyada jihdi haar boldi.. ho Moosewala jeonde… noor dasda eda uthuga jawani vich janaza mithiyhe…’
(He was hated by many, but many died loving him.. he was famous worldwide but many in his own city wanted to defeat him…More than his win, his defeat speaks. Moosewala has become immortal in his life, but the gleam on the face of this man tells that he will die young)…
Moosewala often said in interviews that his inspiration was Tupac Amaru Shakur (also known as 2Pac), the American rapper who too was shot dead in his car in 1996. The song ‘The Last Ride’ was believed to be his tribute to Tupac.
Shot dead at village Jawahar Ke of Mansa Sunday, the Punjabi singer, rapper turned politician Shubhdeep Singh alias Sidhu Moosewala’s love for guns and weapons was evident in most of his tracks, and that also became the reason for the love and brickbats, the fame and the controversies- that he received in equal measures. “Assi goliyaan de naal mukne nahi..medalan wangu parche ne (We aren’t the ones who will be finished with bullets, FIRs on us are like medals)..,” were the lyrics of his song ‘Outlaw’, that had led to massive backlash in Punjab for ‘misleading’ the youths.
On one hand, the 27-year old was the heartthrob of the youths for his tracks, on the other hand he had frequent brush with the law. But irrespective of his continuous brush with the law, his massive popularity only grew, especially among the youths in Punjab. He was often accused of promoting and glorifying violence, gun culture and violence in songs. The lyrics of his songs casually boasted about murders, guns, weapons and violence– something that never went well with activists in Punjab who accused Moosewala of misleading youths and being a bad influence on them by promoting gun culture and crime. Several complaints were filed against Moose Wala for his songs ‘glorifying gun culture and violence.’
From ‘302 da parcha’ (FIR for murder) to ‘banda maarke kasoor puchhde’ (first kill a person and then ask what his fault was), Moosewala’s songs and videos though were always on the lips of the youths, but also on radar of police and activists, who alleged that his songs were misguiding youths of Punjab towards picking guns and weapons.
It was on February 1, 2020 that Moosewala along with another singer Mankirt Aulakh, was booked under the sections 294 (sings, recites or utters any obscene song), 504 (intentional insult with intent to provoke breach of peace) and 149 (unlawful assembly) of the IPC in an FIR registered at Mansa Sadar police station, on the complaint of an advocate HC Arora.
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Both the singers were booked for allegedly singing and promoting the song ‘Pakhiyan, pakhiyan.. gun vich panj goliyaan, ni tere panj veeran layi rakhiyan…Ni jidey uttey tu mardi, ohde uttey ikk 302 da parcha… (I have five bullets in my gun for your five brothers…The guy whom you love is already booked for murder)’.
Moosewala, had allegedly sung another song in a live show at Dirba in Sangrur:“… ‘Hun dasso kihda kihda kanda kadna, jatt zamanat tey aaya hoya hai..’ (Now tell me who are the persons to be eliminated, Jatt has come out on bail). A fresh complaint was filed was filed with the DGP by Arora against him on February 26 for ‘criminal intimidation’.
In another incident in May 2020, the Sangrur police had booked Moosewala and six policemen at Sadar Dhuri police station under Section 188 of the IPC and Arms Act after a video of him firing from a private pistol at Ladda Kothi shooting range went viral.
Punjab Police always had a love and hate relationship with Moosewala and came under fire for choosing Moosewala as one of its face for Covid awareness even as he was accused of glorifying gun culture and violence in his songs. The video was eventually withdrawn.