We cannot be seen to be suppressing the freedom of speech which is enshrined in our Constitution. “Such bans create false impression about India among the nations. Sukhbir, who is also a Lok Sabha member, said the song “Rihai” reflects sentiments of the community, which is perturbed over the continuous incarceration of Sikhs despite the completion of their jail term. Reacting to the development, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal, whose party contested the Sangrur Lok Sabha bypoll on the sole promise of pushing the release of Sikh prisoners, asked the Centre to revoke the “ban” on Grewal’s song. Released on June 23, it was pulled down by YouTube within three days. The tagline of his latest song is “Asi bandhi Singhan di rihai mang rahe aa (we are demanding the release of Sikh prisoners)”, while the lyrics allege their prolonged incarceration.Įven Moose Wala’s song, apart from highlighting the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal dispute with the neighbouring Haryana, called for the release of Sikh prisoners. Grewal, during the yearlong farmers’ agitation that ended late last year, had released a number of songs against the now repealed agricultural laws while criticising the central government. However, the video is still available on some other YouTube channels. “This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government,” reads a message on the song link. Released on Grewal’s official YouTube channel on July 2, “Rihai” garnered nearly 7 lakh views before it was removed from the video-sharing platform in the country.

The development comes days after YouTube pulled down slain Punjabi singer Sidhu Moose Wala’s song “SYL”, which was released posthumously, following a similar complaint by the Centre.

YouTube has taken down Punjabi singer Kanwar Grewal’s song “Rihai”, which calls for the release of Sikh “political prisoners”, following a “legal complaint” by the Indian government.

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