The issue of Sikh prisoners awaiting judgment and languishing in jails is a topic that has been addressed periodically on various platforms. Over the years, different political parties have tried to deal with the issue and Punjabi singers have joined the appeal. A recent example of this is Sidhu Moosewala’s song ‘Syl’, which was recently blocked for viewing in India following a legal complaint filed by the government.
Punjabi Sufi singer Kanwar Grewal’s latest song ‘Rihai’ directly addresses this long-standing problem, urging the authorities to release Sikh prisoners rotting behind bars for decades and serving time much beyond their sentence. Featuring archival footage of protests demanding the release of Sikh prisoners, ‘Rihai’ invokes the traumatic history of the state that has seen immense suffering from the Partition and the 1984 anti-Sikh riots, asserting that the demand is simply for justice.
However, the song has reportedly been pulled down from YouTube owing to a legal complaint from the government. This is the second song to be yanked off the channel, following the removal of Moosewala’s ‘SYL’.
Responding to this move, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has asked the government to revoke the ban. As reported by TribuneIndia.com, the politician said that as an artiste, Grewal had merely highlighted the grievance and that this did not call for a ban. He was quoted as saying, “Such bans can create a wrong impression about India among other nations. We cannot be seen suppressing the freedom of speech, which is enshrined in our constitution.”
Although the video of the song is not available on the platform, the audio is still available on Kanwar Grewal's YouTube page.