Deep Sidhu - the man accused of violence at Red Fort

After violence erupted at the tractor parade of farmers and the flag of Nishan Sahib was hoisted next to the tricolour at the Red Fort, Deep Sidhu's name has emerged among the main perpetrators of the violence that befell the national capital on the occasion of the nation's 72nd Republic day.

New Delhi:There were a lot of discussions on January 26 about the ruckus which took place at the Red Fort during the tractor parade of farmers. The man who has emerged as the alleged kingpin of the turbulence is Deep Sidhu. His name is viral on social media. He is being accused of provoking the crowd. It is alleged that he provoked some youths and other farmers and tried to give a religious dimension to the farmer’s movement.

On January 26, the tractor march was being taken out by the farmer organizations, but it suddenly took a different form. However, for the last two months, this movement had been going on quite peacefully. After the incident at the Red Fort, Deep Sidhu’s photograph with Prime Minister Narendra Modi and actor Sunny Deol is going viral on social media. It is worth mentioning that Deep Sidhu is a resident of Punjab. Born in Muktsar, Deep Sidhu is a model and actor by profession and he has also done many films.

Deep Sidhu had many times shared the dais with BJP leader and actor Sunny Deol during the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sun Deol contested the Lok Sabha poll on the BJP ticket from Gurdaspur seat. Deep Sidhu was with Sunny Deol all the way during the election campaign. As soon as Deep Sidhu’s name surfaced, Sunny Deol gave an explanation, saying that he did not have any relationship with Deep Sidhu and his family. Deol shared the info on social media platform – Twitter. He also said that what happened in Delhi has hurt him. Even earlier in the month of December, he had made it clear through social media posts that Deep has no relationship with him.

Congress MP Ravneet Singh Bittu has also accused Deep Sidhu of fomenting the violence. Bittu has claimed that all this has been done by Khalistani Deep Sidhu and all this should be investigated by the NIA. At the time when the Kisan Movement started, Deep Sidhu was also associated with the movement. Deep Sidhu has also played an important role in taking the Kisan movement from Punjab to Delhi.

Although many times the farmer leaders did not appear to agree with Deep’s statements, the young farmers are also connected with them through social media in large numbers and often they are going live through Facebook and reaching out to farmers and the people. When a part of the farmers' tractor parade reached Delhi, the flag of Nishan Sahib was hoisted next to the tricolour at the Red Fort. The group also went live on Facebook, claiming that they were exercising their democratic right to express their protest.

After what happened at the Red Fort, farmer leaders are also blaming Deep Sidhu for creating the violence. They said that Sidhu provoked some sections of farmers and tried to make their movement a religious one.