Several thousand people gathered in India on Tuesday for the cremation of rapper Sidhu Moose Wala whose murder shocked fans in the country and the entire Punjabi diaspora from Canada to the UK.
Moose Wala, whose real name is Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, 28 years old and 11 million subscribers on YouTube, was killed Sunday, hit by several bullets in his car near his home in the state of Punjab (Northwest).
The police mentioned the track of a “rivalry between gangs”, many in this state plagued by drug trafficking, heroin and opium especially, fueled by neighboring Pakistan and Afghanistan. A mobster living in Canada known by the nickname Goldy Brar “claimed responsibility” for the attack “on behalf of Lawrence Bishnoi’s gang”. Thousands of people thronged Tuesday as the hearse arrived carrying the singer’s coffin to his luxurious home in his home village of Moosa in Punjab. Crowds then posted themselves along the roads to see his body resting among the flowers on a cart, towed by a tractor, to the place of his cremation.
Moose Wala had captured the hearts of Punjabi youth with very catchy rap videos attacking rival singers and the political class and portraying him as spearheading a fight for justice and dignity for the people of Punjab.
One of the most popular rappers in India
His greatest hits, “Legend”, “Old Skool”, “Devil” or “Just Listen”, are among the most popular music videos in India. It was also popular in Canada or Great Britain which have large Punjabi communities. In 2022, he ran unsuccessfully in regional elections in the state of Punjab as a candidate for Congress, India’s main opposition party. Many Indian movie actors and politicians have paid tribute to him as well as the Canadian hip hop singer Drake.
Punjabi-Canadian rapper Gursewak Dhillon said Moose Wala had “revolutionized Punjabi music” in the country, telling The Globe and Mail newspaper: “For a lot of kids in Canada, he was a trailblazer.”
Moose Wala was also a controversial figure, accused of glorifying weapons. Complaints had been filed against him for his songs “Panj Golian” (“Five Bullets”) and “Sanju”, according to the Indian daily The Hindustan Times.
“Sanju” is inspired by a sulphurous star of Indian cinema, Sanjay Dutt, sentenced to prison for illegal possession of an assault rifle. In his last song entitled “The Last Journey”, Moose Wala evoked the untimely death of American rapper Tupac Shakur, who was shot in his car in 1996 at the age of 25. According to press reports, among the dozens of gangs operating in Punjab, some do not hesitate to demand money from rappers or to buy labels or production houses.