Chandigarh: The Bhagwant Mann-led Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in Punjab now finds itself on the back foot following the arrest of popular social activist and vlogger Bhagwan Singh alias Bhaana Sidhu by the state police in connection with multiple cases.
Sidhu has been booked in at least eight different cases since 2019, including four cases registered against him over the course of one week this month.
He was arrested Saturday on charges of extorting a Ludhiana-based immigration agent. Later that day, Sidhu and his brother were booked for extortion by police in Mohali on the complaint of another immigration agent. A case of chain snatching was also registered against Sidhu in Patiala on 22 January. Another case of extortion was registered against him on 26 January in Abohar.
The entertainer in his 30s, who has over a million followers each on Instagram and Facebook has been critical of the ruling AAP, accusing them of ‘failing Punjab’. His YouTube channel “Chacha Wow Records” which features satirical skits, has over a million subscribers.
With Sidhu in police custody, thousands of his supporters gathered Monday at his native village Kotduna in Barnala to protest against his arrest and have announced their plans to hold a protest rally in Sangrur on 3 February.
Sidhu’s arrest has also led to severe criticism from the Opposition in Punjab. Congress leaders Partap Singh Bajwa and Amarinder Singh Raja Warring, among others, have blamed Mann for trying to smother dissent in the state.
“Just because he (Sidhu) speaks against the anti-people policies of the AAP government in the state, he is being fabricated in one or the other case, which is highly deplorable,” Bajwa wrote in a post on X (formerly Twitter). Bajwa, who is Leader of the Opposition in the Punjab Assembly, termed Sidhu the “latest target of the cruel AAP regime”.
Meanwhile, the @AAPPunjab govt in Punjab has been bent upon strangulating the voices of dissent in the state.
The YouTuber and social media influencer Bhagwan Singh Bhana Sidhu has been the latest target of the cruel AAP regime.— Partap Singh Bajwa (@Partap_Sbajwa) January 29, 2024
Addressing Sidhu’s supporters at Kotduna Monday, Congress’s Sukhpal Singh Khaira alleged that Sidhu had been tortured while in police custody. He asked all “self-respecting” Punjabis to unite in support of the social activist. “I’m told that @BhanaSidhuz who’s been badly targeted by @BhagwantMann in multiple false cases was made to stand almost naked in the middle of a cold night while in police custody with the aim to make him realise and feel sorry for his consistent opposition to the present Punjab Government,” he wrote on X.
He also urged Mann and AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal to “immediately remove pics of Shaheed Bhagat Singh ji & Baba Sahib Ambedkar ji” from government offices since in his view what the government is doing is “100 percent contrary to their ideology”.
I’m told that @BhanaSidhuz who’s been badly targeted by @BhagwantMann in multiple false cases was made to stand almost naked in the middle of a cold night while in police custody with the aim to make him realize and feel sorry for his consistent opposition to the present Punjab… pic.twitter.com/8lMMoumTwp
— Sukhpal Singh Khaira (@SukhpalKhaira) January 27, 2024
Lok Sabha MP from Sangrur Simranjit Singh Mann, who heads the Shiromani Akali Dal (Amritsar), told Sidhu’s supporters at Kotduna Monday that the activist was “like a son” to him. “Sidhu’s father has been active in our party. Sidhu is being targeted because he was laying bare the truth of the government,” he alleged.
Bhana Sidhu’s harassment must stop! @BhagwantMann
ਕੋਟ ਦੁੱਨੇ ਦਾ ਭਾਨਾ ਸਿੱਧੂ ਸਿਰਫ ਸਾਡੇ ਹਲਕੇ ਦਾ ਵਸਨੀਕ ਹੀ ਨਹੀਂ ਬਲਕਿ ਸ਼੍ਰੋਮਣੀ ਅਕਾਲੀ ਦਲ ਅੰਮ੍ਰਿਤਸਰ ਦੇ ਸਾਬਕਾ ਜਥੇਦਾਰ ਸਾਬ ਦਾ ਫਰਜ਼ੰਦ ਹੈ ਅਤੇ ਪੁੱਤਰਾਂ ਵਾਂਗੂੰ ਹੈ।
ਭਾਨਾ ਸਿੱਧੂ ਸਮਾਜ ਭਲਾਈ ਦੇ ਨੇਕ ਕੰਮ ਕਰਨ ਤੋਂ ਇਲਾਵਾ ਸਰਕਾਰ ਦੀਆਂ ਵਧੀਕੀਆਂ ਖਿਲਾਫ ਡੱਟ ਕੇ… pic.twitter.com/BvKYbvXxrK
— Simranjit Singh Mann (@SimranjitSADA) January 24, 2024
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Who is Bhaana Singh Sidhu?
Bhagwan Singh alias Bhaana Sidhu alias Kaka Sidhu started his career as a comedian with his brother Amna Sidhu and relative Harinder Sidhu alias Producer Dxx. Their initial work came under heavy criticism over the use of expletives. Sidhu then appeared in Punjabi films including Sufna (2020), among others. He also appeared in the Punjabi web series Bhola Banuga Star.
While his grandfather Kartar Singh was a prominent farmer leader of the Malwa region and headed a faction of the Bharatiya Kisan Union (BKU), Sidhu also played an active role during the 2021 farmers’ protest.
However, the graph of his popularity shot up after he was featured in the late Sidhu Moosewala’s music videos. Sidhu has been relentless in his demand for justice for Moosewala, who was killed in a shooting in May 2022.
Besides organising food and rations for farmers who lost their crops to unfavourable weather conditions, Sidhu joined hands with gangster-turned-activist Lakha Sidhana to visit villages across the state to inquire about the problems faced by locals.
Over the past year, he shifted his focus to the issue of immigration agents duping youngsters by charging them lakhs of rupees on the pretext of sending them abroad. His intervention led to many immigration agents returning the proceeds of fraud to the victims.
In his live videos on Facebook, Sidhu has criticised the chief minister for ‘having failed’ Punjab on more than one occasion. On 1 November, when Mann organised a live debate — “Main Punjab Bolda haan” — with the Opposition in Ludhiana, Sidhu and his supporters posted videos of themselves rebutting the chief minister’s claims.
Last month, Sidhu and Sidhana launched a statewide “Punjab Bachao Yatra” to highlight the ‘failures’ of the AAP government.
“The MLAs should be doing this work, not us. They should leave their offices and meet people, listen to their problems and sort them. If the MLAs want, they can solve things with just a phone call,” Sidhu was seen saying in an Instagram post shared on 7 December.
In February last year, Sidhu was arrested by the Barnala police on a complaint that he had made inappropriate remarks against a policeman from the Scheduled Castes (SC) community. He spent over a month in jail before being released on bail.
In 2019, he was booked under the NDPS Act for promoting the planting of poppy seeds in a video. In 2022, he was booked for damage to public property when he defaced signboards in English demanding that Punjabi language should be used on signboards. And in November that same year, he was booked on charges of trespassing in Patiala.
(Edited by Amrtansh Arora)
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