YouTube has remove a viral music video in India release posthumously by murder Sikh rapper Sidhu Moose Wala following a complaint by the government.
The song “SYL” talks about the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal which has at the centre of a long-running water dispute between the late Sikh rapper’s home state of Punjab and neighbouring Haryana.
The track, release posthumously, also touches on other sensitive topics such as deadly riots targeting the Sikh community that broke out in India in 1984 and the storming of an important Sikh temple in Amritsar by the army the same year.
It had garner nearly 30 million views and 3.3 million likes on the singer’s YouTube page before it was pull down over the weekend.
Message Post on the Song Link Said :
“This content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government,”.
The song is still available in other countries.
In an email to AFP, a YouTube spokesperson said it had only remove the song in “keeping with local laws and our Terms of Service after a thorough review”.
Government did not immediately respond to enquiries.
Moose Wala’s family term the removal of the song “unjust” and appeale to the government to take back the complaint, local media reports said.
Moose Wala also known by his birth name Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu was shot dead in his car in the northern state of Punjab last month.
The 28-year-old, Moose Wala was a popular musician both in India and among Punjabi communities abroad, especially in Canada and Britain.
His death spark anger and outrage from fans from across the world.
Indian police arrest three men accuse of murdering Moose Wala and seize a cache of weaponry including a grenade launcher.
The men had allegedly act at the behest of Canada-base gangster Goldy Brar and his accomplice Lawrence Bishnoi who is currently in jail in India.
Moose Wala rose to fame with catchy songs that attack rival rappers and politicians, portraying himself as a man who fought for his community’s pride, deliver justice and gun down enemies.
He was criticise for promoting gun culture through his music videos, in which he regularly pose with firearms.
His murder also put the spotlight on organise crime in Punjab, a major transit route for drugs entering India from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
Many observers link the narcotics trade mostly heroin and opium to an uptick in gang-related violence and the use of illegal arms in the state.
