A day after clashes during the farmers' tractor rally which saw widespread violence in the national capital on Tuesday, the role of Punjabi actor, Deep Sidhu, once known to be a close to BJP MP Sunny Deol, has come under scrutiny as a video has emerged showing him handing over a 'kesri' flag to a man to hoist on the ramparts of the Red Fort amid slogans of 'Raj karega Khalsa'.
Farmers have accused him of giving communal colour to the movement for his actions, which have drawn provoked outrage on social media. Due to the same, the agitation has drawn criticism even from those who backed the movement.
In a few videos that have surfaced on social media, angry farmers can purportedly be seen chasing away Sidhu. In one such video where Sidhu is seen doing a Facebook live on a tractor after the flag was hoisted, a group of farmers can purportedly be seen roughing him up and saying "you have damaged the entire movement".
Sidhu posted a video on his Facebook handle last night and defended the act saying the protestors did not remove the national flag but put up the "Nishan Sahib" as a symbolic protest.
"To symbolically register our protest against the new farm legislation, we put up 'Nishan Sahib' and a farmer flag and also raised the slogan of Kisan Mazdoor Ekta," said Mr Sidhu. He asserted that the national flag was not removed from the flagpole at the Red Fort.
Sidhu reiterated that such anger was natural in a mass movement "when the genuine rights of people" are ignored. "In today's situation, that anger flared up."
However, farmer leaders have distanced themselves from him and accused him of acting of behalf of the government to try and taint the peaceful protest.
In 2019, the actor turned activist came into spotlight as an aide of Sunny Deol when he contested from Gurdaspur in Punjab.
Notably, after the rally ended, the Samkyukt Kisan Morcha, an umbrella body of 41 farmer unions that is leading the farmer protest, alleged that some "anti-social elements" had infiltrated their otherwise peaceful protest.
"Deep Sidhu is not a Sikh, he is a worker of the BJP. This is a movement of farmers and will remain so. Some people will have to leave this place immediately – those who broke barricading will never be a part of the movement," said Rajesh Tikait of the Bharat Kisan Union.
