A new narrative is being attributed to farmers’ battle, says activist

Surrounded by controversy after he was seen within the crowd throughout the hoisting of a “religious flag” on the Red Fort on Tuesday, Punjabi actor-cum-activist Deep Sidhu has mentioned makes an attempt are being made to create a new narrative surrounding the continuing battle that the motion is threatening the nation’s unity and integrity, which is not true.

Mr. Sidhu had been an in depth affiliate of BJP Lok Sabha MP from Gurdaspur Sunny Deol and had campaigned for him throughout the 2019 Lok Sabha election. However, final yr when he joined the farmers’ protest in opposition to the farm legal guidelines, Mr. Deol distanced himself from him and his actions.

After the “flag hoisting” episode, Mr. Sidhu in a video message on his Facebook web page mentioned “when for a long period the sentiments of people are ignored and such protests are underway then the anger flares up. What happened today was the result of such anger. In such a situation, it’s not right to blame any one person,” he mentioned.

Mr. Sidhu mentioned the flag ‘Nishan Sahib’ was hoisted on the Red Fort as a symbolic protest in opposition to the farm legal guidelines. “We also hoisted a flag of farmers’ union Kisan Mazdoor Ekta. But we didn’t remove the Tricolour. We hoisted the flags to show unity in diversity. We have not raised any question on the unity and integrity of the country. No one has given any instigating speech. What happened today shouldn’t be seen in isolation. It happened in a continuation of protests going on for the past several months,” he mentioned.

“The incident [flag hoisting] was not planned. It just happened in the flow of the protest.”

Mr. Sidhu mentioned the farmers have come to Delhi solely to stage a symbolic protest and never to damage anybody or injury public property. “They should not be described as fundamentalists, communal elements or hardliners. We had peacefully protested and exercised our right.”