Diljit Dosanjh has backed the students caught up in the CJP protests over alleged NEET irregularities, and also hinted exactly what it might cost him.
In an Instagram story on Tuesday, the actor-singer wrote, “What happened today was very wrong. Students should not have been treated like this. I request the authorities to listen to the students’ demands. The voice of the people is the voice of God.”
The 42-year-old also acknowledged, without any apparent hesitation, that speaking out would likely earn him another round of “anti-national” labels.
“I have already been labelled an ‘anti-national’ many times. Even now, I know I will be called anti-national again. After the farmers’ protest, I faced a lot of backlash and legal problems that I still cannot even discuss. The rest, God is watching everything. May Baba bless everyone,” he wrote.
Back in 2020-21, the Sardaar Ji lead had openly supported the protesting farmers through social media and public statements, which drew sharp reactions from certain political voices and social media users who accused him of being anti-national.
He had consistently maintained that supporting citizens’ concerns should never be seen as being against the country.
His statement came alongside a wave of Bollywood support for the protests. Riteish and Genelia Deshmukh, Bhumi Pednekar, Huma Qureshi, Nandita Das and Shabana Azmi had all backed the youth-led march toward Parliament on Monday.
Shabana Azmi was seen feeling unwell at the protest site and had to be assisted by volunteers.
Meanwhile, on the work front, Diljit is facing hardships as his film Satlujin which he played human rights activist Jaswant Singh Khalra, was pulled from ZEE5 within 48 hours of itsrelease.
He said in a recent live session that there were several matters linked to the film he still could not speak openly about, adding that the situation depicted in the 1995-set film “had not changed much even now.”
Besides this, reports about him acquiring US nationality also surfaced. A report by The Indian Express had claimed Diljit acquired US citizenship in 2022 and has been travelling on a US passport since.
When fans asked him about it during a live session, he responded with characteristic humour, “I’ll take a card and colour it green”, neither confirming nor denying anything.