Thousands joined the funeral of hip hop star Sidhu Moose Wala who was assassinated in a weekend attack in his hometown which sparked a furious backlash. Indian police said the murder was plotted in Canada, where fans also grieved his violent end.
Fans also launched protests on Tuesday in Punjab, Moose Wala’s home state as the funeral pyre was lit by the breakout artiste’s grieving relatives.
“He was not just a singer. He was an inspiration for the entire Indian diaspora,” said fan Kuldeep Singh in Punjab, an Indian state which has struggled to keep younger people away from drugs and alcohol.
From 'Same Beef' to 'So High', top songs to remember Punjabi rapper Sidhu Moose Wala
— ANI Digital (@ani_digital) May 29, 2022
Read @ANI Story | https://t.co/rgcavUY8jR#SidhuMoosewala #Punjab #Punjabisinger pic.twitter.com/DYsgKaKyKR
Born Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, the 28-year-old hip hopper was ambushed in hometown Mansa where gunmen trailed his car and shot him 30 times before escaping from the sleepy Punjabi village, witnesses told police.
Punjab police chief Viresh Kumar Bhawra said criminals led by gangster Lawrence Bishnoi masterminded the attack on the Indian artist who had some eight million followers on Instagram.
“His gang in Canada has taken responsibility for it,” Bhawra said without elaborating except naming a person there as a suspect.
Bishnoi was serving time in prison when the killers shot the singer, who has drawn criticism for promoting guns in Punjab, also burdened with the history of a Sikh separatist drive that claimed thousands of lives in the 1980s.
Uncanny links
On Sunday, the hashtag #TheLastRide began trending. The song was released by the rapper two weeks before his death and his fans saw links between the number and the manner of Moose Wala’s killing.
Some others also found similarities between his violent demise and the death of American rap sensation Tupac Shakur who too was similarly killed 26 years ago.
Moose Wala was killed a day after Punjab’s new AAP party government Saturday withdrew police details protecting the singer and scores of other public figures.
The authorities argued the step was designed to prune government spending on security.
India’s ruling BJP party attacked AAP for the death of Moose Wala, who also has a sizable following among British Sikhs. The Congress, India’s oldest political entity, labelled it a “political killing.”
The singer had joined the Congress and unsuccessfully contested the recent state elections.
"It has just been a little over two months and we can already see the dangerous footprints of the bloody game that is afoot,” said BJP’s Amit Malvia, referring to March when the AAP took office after an election landslide in Punjab.
Punjab is up in flames! Is popular singer Sidhu Moosewala’s cold blooded murder the change AAP promised?
— Amit Malviya (@amitmalviya) May 29, 2022
Arvind Kejriwal and Raghav Chaddha, who run Punjab by proxy, must be held accountable for this murder. Did they not know of the threat before withdrawing his security?
“Every issue will be probed,” added AAP spokesman Jasmine Shah as the political backlash gained strength over the death of Moosa Wala, whose musical career kicked off at the age of 22.
Career graph
He cut his teeth as a songwriter after he immigrated to Canada where he spent his past six year. His stepping stone number “So High” put the focus on the artist and the track as on Tuesday afternoon logged 477 million views on YouTube.
In his six-year career, 10 of Moose Wala’s soulful numbers peaked on the UK Asian charts.
In 2020, the rapper also made it to The Guardian List of blossoming artists to watch out for that year. His fast-paced “Bambiha Bole” was ranked among the top five on the Global YouTube music chart.
Love for guns
But his fetish for firearms led to run-ins with the law in India, which has stern gun control laws.
He was booked for waving a banned assault rifle in his tracks “Levels” and “Me and My Girlfriend’ which went viral on social media and did not amuse the police.
In February 2020, Moose Wala was charged with promoting guns just after the release of his track “Panj Goliyan” or Five Bullets.
He also upset Sikh groups with a controversial number that some said had references to a revered guru.
