Actor-turned-activist Deep blamed for Red Fort incident, farmers term him Centre’s agent
A day after the violence during the tractor parade on Republic Day, two farmer unions announced the end of their protest against new farm laws. Bharatiya Kisan Union (Bhanu) president Thakur Bhanu Pratap Singh said he was deeply pained by whatever happened during the tractor parade in Delhi on Republic Day.
Sardar VM Singh of All India Kisan Sangharsh Coordination Committee said the union is withdrawing from the ongoing agitation as they cannot carry forward a protest with someone “whose direction is something else”.
Many farmers’ bodies across northern India blamed actor-turned-activist Deep Sidhu for Red Fort incident. Senior farmer leader Balbir Singh Rajewal, who has been steering the farmers’ agitation since beginning, on Wednesday termed Punjabi actor Sidhu and Mazdoor Kisan Sangharsh Committee leaders Satnam Singh Pannu and Sarwan Singh Pandher as “biggest traitors” giving a call for their boycott in Punjab.
Sidhu, who is in the eye of a storm for egging on protesters to put up a religious flag atop the Red Fort on Republic Day, has been considered by several farm bodies as an “agent” of the Government since he joined the protest.
“Sidhu is an agent of the Government and he did it at the behest of the Centre to defame the farmers’ agitation,” alleged Bharti Kisan Union (Ekta Ugrahan) general secretary Sukhdev Singh Kokrikalan on Wednesday.
However, Sidhu has sought to defend the action of the protesters at the Red Fort, saying they did not remove the national flag and had put up the “Nishan Sahib” flag as a symbolic protest.
VM Singh alleged Rakesh Tikait, the national spokesperson of the Bharatiya Kisan Union, who is heading the Ghazipur front, misdirected the movement. He also questioned the committee of 40 people negotiating with the Government.
Addressing a Press conference, Singh also accused Tikait of not raising the issue of sugarcane farmers. He said there is no point in staying in the movement that makes the farmer ashamed. On Wednesday, the number of farmers at UP Gate decreased significantly.
The administration closed Ghazipur Mandi, National Highway-9 and National Highway-24 in view of the situation.
“He took youth towards the Red Fort by misleading them. We never allowed people like Deep Sidhu at our stage. We knew that he could bring disrepute to the agitation. We never trusted him,” he further said.
Bhartiya Kisan Union (Chaduni) leader Gurnam Singh Chaduni also condemned the action of Deep Sidhu, saying there was no plan of the farmers to go to the Red Fort.
“Whatever Deep Sidhu has done, we condemn it in the strongest possible words and we feel that he was an agent of the government. He always speaks against the farmer leaders and incites people against them,” said Chaduni in a video message, stressing that farmers did not have any plan to go to the Red Fort.
Before associating himself with the farmers’ agitation, Sidhu, hailing from Punjab’s Muktsar district, had acted in a few Punjabi films. He has also studied law.
The model-turned-actor made his debut in Punjabi romantic film “Ramta Jogi”, which was directed by Guddu Dhanoa in 2015. He has also acted in Punjabi movies “Jora Dus Numbaria”, “Saade Aale” and “Jora the second chapter”.
He got into the limelight when he joined a dharna at Shambhu near Haryana border in support of the protesting farmers last year. The dharna received massive support from farmers especially the youth who favoured the demand for roll-back of the three new agri laws introduced by the Central Government.
Sidhu was also a close aide of BJP MP Sunny Deol, who contested from the Gurdaspur seat in Punjab during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. He remained with Deol during the poll campaigning.
Deol had distanced himself from Sidhu in December last year after he joined the farmers’ agitation.
Thursday, 28 January 2021 | Staff Reporter | GHAZAIBAD
