Late Indian singer Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu, popularly known as Sidhu Moosewala’s latest song, SYL, has been removed by YouTube in India following a complaint from the Union government. The song, however, is available in other countries.
As the name suggests, the song is about the under-construction Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal that has been a bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana for the past four decades. Along with the significance of the canal link, it also brings up other issues about the undivided Punjab, the 1984 riots, militancy, Sikh prisoners and the flag hoisting at the Red Fort during the farmer agitation.
SYL is the first song to be released after the murder of the singer earlier this year. Shot a few weeks before Moose Wala’s tragic death, the song was released on the evening of June 23. In less than two days of its launch, the song garnered over 27 million views and had 3.3 million likes on the streaming platform.
“The content is not available on this country domain due to legal complaint from the government,” reads the song’s YouTube link in India. According to The Indian Express, a YouTube spokesperson shared that they have very “clear policies for removal requests from governments around the world.”
They added, “We review government removal requests when notified through the correct legal processes, and where appropriate, we restrict or remove content in keeping with local laws and our Terms of Service after a thorough review.”
Moosewala was shot dead on May 29 earlier this year. The incident took place a day after his security was withdrawn by the Punjab police among 424 others.
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