Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh has criticised a news anchor for targeting and challenging him over the use of lyrics related to alcohol in his songs. Taking to Instagram on Friday, Diljit posted a long video in which he spoke to the audience of Lucknow. He said that if singers are asked to censor their songs, then the rules should apply to Indian films as well. Diljit said that singers are soft targets but reminded the anchor that films have also won National Awards. 

Diljit talks about his songs

In the video, Diljit said, “Ek anchor sahab hai TV pe unke baare mein zaroor baat karna chahta hoon. Woh mujhe challenge derahe the k Diljit sharab ke bina gaana hit kar ke dikhaye. For your kind information sir, Born To Shine, GOAT, Lover, Kinni Kinni, Naina mere bahot saare gaane hai jo Patiala Peg se zyada stream karte hai Spotify pe. Woh jo aapka challenge hai woh toh bekaar ho gaya kyuki mera already bohut saare gaane hai jo hit hai Patiala Peg se bohut zyada (There is an anchor on TV that I’d like to talk about. He challenged me to make a hit song without the mention of alcohol. For your kind information, sir, Born To Shine, GOAT, Lover, Kinni Kinni, and Naina, there are a lot of songs which are streamed more on Spotify than Patiala Peg. So, your challenge doesn’t count since I've many songs which are bigger hits than Patiala Peg)."

Diljit wants same censorship for everyone

He also said, “I am not defending my songs or myself. Main sirf itna chahta hoon ke agar aap censorship lagana chahte ho gaano pe toh woh censorship Bhartiya cinema pe bhi hona chahiye. Right? Bhartiya cinema mein toh jitni badi gun utna bada hero. Kausa bada actor hai jisen sharab ka gaana ya scene nahi kiya? Hai koi? Yaad araha hai? Mere ko toh koi yaad nahi araha. Toh agar aapne censorship lagana hai toh please sab pe lagao (I just want that if you want to censor songs, then the censorship should be applied to Indian cinema too. In Indian films, the bigger the gun, the bigger the hero. Which big actor has not done a song on alcohol or similar scene? Is thre anyone? I can't remember. So if you want to apply censorship, then do it on everyone)."

Diljit says artistes are soft targets

“Kalakar aapko soft target lagte hai. Isiliye jo gaane waale singer hai usko aap chedte ho. But sir for your kind information maine jo filmein ki hai unko National Award bhi mila hai meri film ko. To humara kaam sasta kaam nahi hai (Artists are soft targets for you. So you create trouble for singers. The films that I've done have been honoured with National Awards. So my work isn't cheap). It's very easy for us to run a disclaimer that alcohol is injurious to health during concerts and continue singing songs. It's the same, right? Then it feels that we are targeting someone. So, if you have spread this wrong news, then it's called fake news...I challenge you to run the correct news."

What happened

The row started ahead of his Hyderabad show when the state government sent him a notice directing him to avoid songs related to alcohol, drugs and violence. Since his Ahmedabad concert, Diljit has been calling out the double standard in targeting musicians.

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