At Punjab Rally, Rahul Gandhi Remembers Sidhu Moosewala, Then Attacks AAP

The name of singer-songwriter Sidhu Moosewala, who was assassinated by the Lawrence Bishnoi gang in 2022 in Punjab's Mansa, cropped up at a Congress rally in Sangrur to highlight the alleged breakdown of law and order under Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann's rule. With the rapper's father, Balkaur Singh Sidhu, on stage, Congress MP Rahul Gandhi slammed the AAP government for withdrawing his security days before he was ambushed and killed by the gang armed with automatic rifles.

Gandhi, who formally launched the Congress campaign in Punjab, recalled his meeting with the singer before his entry into the Congress and said he had seen a dynamic and talented young man who wanted to contribute to Punjab and the country.

Moosewala contested and lost the assembly elections on a Congress ticket from Mansa, his native town.

Gandhi said he had facilitated Moosewala's entry into the Congress because he believed the young singer deserved an opportunity to serve society through politics. He added that he had also felt the need to offer him political protection, although not physical protection.

Recounting the sequence of events leading to the singer's murder, the Congress MP alleged that Moosewala began receiving threats after their interactions and that his security was subsequently withdrawn.

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"Then, one day, I witnessed it, right before everyone's eyes: his security was withdrawn. In full view of Punjab and the entire nation, he was murdered in broad daylight in Punjab, gunned down while in his car," he said.

The Congress leader's reference to the withdrawal of security and the subsequent killing brought the issue of Moosewala's murder to the centre of his political attack on the state government.

Going beyond the individual case, Gandhi sought to portray the killing as a reflection of what he described as a wider breakdown of law and order in Punjab. He argued that the same mindset that allowed Moosewala to be shot dead was now spreading across the state.

"What happened to his son has now become a trend in Punjab," Gandhi said, alleging that people with talent and ambition who wanted to make progress through their own efforts were being threatened, intimidated, and ultimately shot dead.

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He said young people who wished to work for the betterment of Punjab and the country should be encouraged rather than forced to live under threats.

The singer's murder continues to remain a politically sensitive issue in Punjab, with opposition parties repeatedly raising questions over security arrangements, gang violence, and the government's handling of law and order.

With Punjab heading towards the 2027 Assembly elections, Gandhi's address at the Sangrur rally brought the law and order issue into sharp focus. His speech sought to make Moosewala's killing a larger political symbol of the challenges confronting Punjab's youth.