Named SYL, Sidhu Moose Wala’s new song goes beyond water issue

MANSA: Leaked on YouTube 24 days after his murder, global chartbuster Shubhdeep Singh alias Sidhu Moose Wala’s latest song ‘SYL’ raised several controversial issues, many of which have nothing to do with saving water, the message that the song ends with. Recorded before May 29, it was the singer’s most awaited song since his murder.
It clocked over 20 lakh view on his official Youtube channel within two hours of its release.
The song has photos of several militants and even recalls Balwinder Singh Jatana, who was accused of killing chief engineer M L Sikri and superintendent engineer A S Aulakh at the SYL (Satluj Yamuna Link) office in Chandigarh’s Sector 26 on July 23, 1990. Jatana was said to be a militant of the proKhalistan Babbar Khalsa.
In the commentary part of the song, it talks of the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi in 1984 and later the killing of general Vaidya in Pune — both after the military operation to flush out terrorists from the Golden Temple — and the shooting of Britsh general O’Dwyer in London by Shaheed Udham Singh in retaliation for the 1919 massacre inside Amritsar’s Jalli-anwala Bagh.
On June 8, Sidhu Moose Wala’s father, Balkaur Singh, had said he alone had Moose Wala’ official handle.
Despite this, the song leaked a day before its scheduled release. It features among other ‘Bandi Singhs’, Balwant Singh Rajoana and Jagtar Singh Hawara, who are in jail for the 1995 assassination of Punjab chief minister Beant Singh. It covers Punjab reorganisation, 2004 termination of agreements Act, and the unfurling of Nishan Sahib at the Red Fort on January 26, 2021, during the farmers’ protest. Moose Wala had not spoken about the incident publicly then or later.
He had contested recent Punjab assembly polls on the Congress ticket. The new song is not only uncharacteristic of his hip hop style of singing but also of his public speeches.
The four-minute song opens with an extract from speech of AAP MP Sushil Gupta and takes on the ‘Topi Wala’ party.
“Sanu saada pichhokad te saada laana de deo, Chandigarh, Himanchal te Haryana de deo, jinna chir saanu unnati da raah ni dinde una chir paani chhaddo tupka ni dinde (Give us our ancestry, give us Chandigarh, Himachal and Haryana, until you give us the path to prosperity, leave water, don’t expect even a drop of water from us). ”