Deep Sidhu posted a video on Facebook last evening, in which he defended their act saying the protesters did not remove the national flag.
The role of a Punjabi actor Deep Sidhu and his accomplices, after a day of clashes during a farmers’ tractor protest on Republic Day on Tuesday, has come under scrutiny. Once known to be close to movie star-turned-BJP MP Sunny Deol, Deep Sidhu was last seen at Red Fort, which became the epicentre of the chaos that descended upon Delhi.
Farmers protesting at the Delhi borders have accused him and people who he tagged along of planting the “Nishan Sahib” or Sikh religious flag at the Red Fort, an act that has provoked outrage, especially on social media. Visuals of protestors storming into the Mughal-era monument with sticks and flags has drawn criticism even from those who backed the farmers’ agitation.
Deep Sidhu, after being criticised for inciting a section of farmers to defy the path promised for tractor march and leading the parade to Red Fort, posted a video on Facebook last evening, in which he defended their act saying the protesters did not remove the national flag but put up the “Nishan Sahib” as a symbolic protest.
Claiming that it was a spontaneous act, Sidhu said: “To symbolically register our protest against the new farm legislation, we put up ‘Nishan Sahib’ and a farmer flag and also raised the slogan of Kisan Mazdoor Ekta.” The national flag was not removed from the flagpole at the Red Fort, Sidhu asserted.
The Punjabi actor, pointing at the “Nishan Sahib” — a triangular saffron flag bearing Sikh religious symbols – said it represented the country’s “unity in diversity”.
Such anger was natural in a mass movement “when the genuine rights of people” are ignored, Sidhu said, adding: “In today’s situation, that anger flared up.”
“We held a peaceful protest without destroying anything or causing any damage to the public property…we exercised our democratic right peacefully. If we think one person or a personality could do such a big mobilisation of people, then it will be wrong,” he further added.
However, various farmer leaders have distanced themselves from him, accusing the actor of working on behalf of the government to try and malign a peaceful protest.
Many also pointed out that the actor had not only worked as an aide of Sunny Deol when he contested from Gurdaspur in Punjab in 2019 but also had a picture with PM Modi. Sunny Deol, after the ruckus on Tuesday, posted a statement on Twitter saying: “Today what happened at Red Fort has saddened me. I had earlier too, on December 6, made it clear that neither I nor my family have anything to do with Deep Sidhu.”
Some “antisocial elements” had infiltrated their otherwise peaceful movement, alleged the Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 farmer unions that is leading the farmer protest.
“Deep Sidhu is not a Sikh, he is a worker of the BJP. This is a movement of farmers and will remain so. Some people will have to leave this place immediately – those who broke barricading will never be a part of the movement,” Rakesh Tikait of the Bharat Kisan Union said.
Satnam Singh Pannu of the Kisan Mazdoor Sangharsh Committee, said: “Whatever happened at Red Fort is because of Deep Sidhu. Why didn’t the police stop him at Red Fort? He is close to the ruling party.”
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