Farmers Movement Archive

Deep Sidhu surfaces on Facebook, objects to being called traitor

Punjabi actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu, who was chased away from Singhu border after the Red Fort violence on Republic Day, surfaced with a Facebook Live at 2am on Thursday to say that he’s “very much near the Delhi border” and objected to farmer leaders calling him a gaddar (traitor) for derailing the two-month-long agitation against the Centre’s farm laws.“I’m not a gaddar. I didn’t lead people to the Red Fort. This was the decision of the public who had come all the way from Punjab to protest. Nobody was leading them,” said the 36-year-old, going live on Facebook.Also read: Republic Day violence: FIRs, blame-game, infighting mar farmers’ protestHe said farmer union leaders who had called him a traitor should be ashamed as they are doing the government’s bidding. “The farmer union leaders should have supported the people unfurling the farmer’s and Khalsa flag at Red Fort because it was done only and only to mark our protest in this fight. The Tricolour was not demeaned, and there was no violence till I was there. Their support for what the public did at the Red Fort would have pressurised the government to repeal the black (farm) laws,” Sidhu said. “They should have conveyed to the government that if the farmers can reach Red Fort, they can do anything in protest,” he said.FARMER LEADERS INSTIGATED PEOPLE: SIDHU The actor said the farmer leaders had called the public to Delhi by giving instigating speeches from stages. “They even said they will hit Delhi to open the eyes and ears of the Centre,” he said.“The mood of the people was to reach inside Delhi, and they did it. The so-called peaceful marches by the farmer leaders had few participants on tractors. However, lakhs of people were inside Delhi,” the actor said.He said he reached Red Fort when thousands of people were already there.Sidhu, who was reportedly chased away by farm union activists at Singhu border after the violence at Red Fort, said he was “very much near Singhu border and those who chased him are loyalists of the farmer leaders”.TAKES ON FARMER LEADERS FOR CALLING HIM RSS AGENT “Farmer union leaders had been claiming that Sidhu has no support and now they say I instigated and led people to enter Delhi. If I was so unpopular how I could lead so many people?”The actor also took on the farmer leaders for calling him an agent of the Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh (RSS). “If those who reached Red Fort were RSS men, who were they who called the public to Delhi and followed the routes dictated by the Centre?” he added.

Hindustan Times

28-01-2021

Chandigarh