NEW DELHI
\nYouTube has removed a viral music video in India released posthumously by murdered Sikh rapper Sidhu Moose Wala following a complaint by the government.
\nThe song \u2018SYL\u2019 talks about the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal which has been at the centre of a long-running water dispute between the late Sikh rapper\u2019s home state of Punjab and neighbouring Haryana.
\nThe track, released posthumously on Thursday, also touches on other sensitive topics such as deadly riots targeting the Sikh community that broke out in India in 1984 and the storming of an important Sikh temple in Amritsar by the army the same year.
\nIt had garnered nearly 30 million views and 3.3 million likes on the singer\u2019s YouTube page before it was pulled down over the weekend.
\n\u201cThis content is not available on this country domain due to a legal complaint from the government,\u201d said a message posted on the song link.
\nThe song is still available in other countries.
\nIn an email to AFP, a YouTube spokesperson said it had only removed the song in \u201ckeeping with local laws and our Terms of Service after a thorough review\u201d.
\nThe government did not immediately respond to enquiries.
\nMoose Wala\u2019s family termed the removal of the song \u201cunjust\u201d and appealed to the government to take back the complaint, local media reports said.
\n\u201cThey can ban the song but they cannot take Sidhu out of the hearts of the people. We will discuss legal options with lawyers,\u201d uncle Chamkaur Singh was quoted as saying by the Hindustan Times daily.
\nMoose Wala \u2014 also known by his birth name Shubhdeep Singh Sidhu \u2014 was shot dead in his car in the northern state of Punjab last month.
\nThe 28-year-old was a popular musician both in India and among Punjabi communities abroad, especially in Canada and Britain.
\nHis death sparked anger and outrage from fans from across the world.
\nLast week, Indian police arrested three men accused of murdering Moose Wala and seized a cache of weaponry including a grenade launcher.
\nThe men had allegedly acted at the behest of Canada-based gangster Goldy Brar and his accomplice Lawrence Bishnoi who is currently in jail in India.
\nMoose Wala rose to fame with catchy songs that attacked rival rappers and politicians, portraying himself as a man who fought for his community\u2019s pride, delivered justice and gunned down enemies.
\nHe was criticised for promoting gun culture through his music videos, in which he regularly posed with firearms.
\nHis murder also put the spotlight on organised crime in Punjab, a major transit route for drugs entering India from Afghanistan and Pakistan.
\nMany observers link the narcotics trade \u2014 mostly heroin and opium \u2014 to an uptick in gang-related violence and the use of illegal arms in the state.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NEW DELHI YouTube has removed a viral music video in India released posthumously by murdered Sikh rapper Sidhu Moose Wala following a complaint by the government. The song \u2018SYL\u2019 talks about the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal which has been at the centre of a long-running water dispute between the late Sikh rapper\u2019s home state of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":268725,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[195,8781,9126,9125],"class_list":{"0":"post-268702","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world","8":"tag-india","9":"tag-indian-rapper","10":"tag-sidhu-moose-wala","11":"tag-youtube"},"yoast_head":"\n