SIDHU MOOSE WALA: A COMPLEX CHARACTER IN LIFE, DEATH AND MUSIC

In his short career of five years, he achieved fame not just among Indians, but also the Punjabi diaspora.

Sidhu Moose Wala’s rise to fame took the cultural landscape of Punjab and its people by storm, and then spread even further and wider. His cold-blooded murder in broad daylight sent shockwaves perhaps even further.

The visceral trigger – a hail of bullets that killed him almost instantly – was strong enough for impulsive social media posts and algorithm-centric ‘X things you need to know’ journalism to run wild.

Before this, Shubdeep Singh Sidhu, alias Sidhu Moose Wala, had been a subject for news broadcast-cumreality shows when he contested the Punjab assembly polls as a Congress candidate. He lost to the Aam Aadmi Party’s (AAP) Vijay Singla.

Last month, Singla was sacked as Punjab’s health minister and arrested over corruption charges. Moose Wala, who’s song ‘Scapegoat’ criticised voters for not electing honest people – like himself – quickly gloated about Singla’s sacking. Social media commentators even flirted with the idea that Moose Wala should take another shot at elections, maybe even for the Sangrur Lok Sabha seat that fell vacant after Bhagwant Mann became chief minister.

Fate had other plans. When he was attacked, Moose Wala was travelling with two of his friends in a Mahindra Thar SUV and had left behind his two security personnel, – reduced from four by the AAP government the previous day – reportedly due to a space crunch in the vehicle.