This migrant-turn-rapper never misses a chance to raise the plight of the poor or criticise politicians for their wrongdoings, whether it is the ordeal of migrant workers during nationwide lockdown or its farmers protest on controversial agriculture reform bill.
Coming from a farmer family, and himself a migrant worker who lost his job during Covid-19 lockdown, Dule Rocker has once again attacked the elite group on farmers issue his viral video.
His latest video ‘I stand with farmers’ has gone viral. The 27-year-old is a Dalit migrant worker from Odisha's Kalahandi district. In his videos, he narrates the ordeal of migrants during the lockdown.
Duleshwar had moved to Raipur in 2013, as a migrant worker, after completing his Bachelor of Science degree in Chemistry from a government college in Kalahandi. He worked as a waiter in a Raipur hotel as he could not find a job. On some occasions, he washed plates and cleaned tables.
He had returned to his village Borda on March 23, one day before the national lockdown. The Odisha government had announced a lockdown across 70 per cent of the state. After returning home, Dule recorded a 2.45-minute rap video 'Telling the Truth' in which he vented out his angst against the politicians. Rapper Dule became an overnight sensation after which music director Vishal Dadlani invited Dule for a new recording.
With no musical instrument, no background score or a decorated stage behind him, Duleshwar sings in his muddy thatched partially damaged hut and records it on his cellphone. His songs depict the bitter truth during the lockdown period.
Rapper Dule Rocker told India Today TV, "I want to convey my thoughts on nationwide farmers' protests... The government has made a mistake by passing the Bill without consulting the Opposition arbitrarily, so people are unhappy. The government says there will be no middlemen — this means it wants privatisation, everyone knows farmers won't get good prices from private companies, whether it's farmers or labourers."