The agricultural department of India has shaken up with the introduction of farm bills by the Indian government. This resulted in farmers from different states coming on roads and fighting for their rights. As the farmers of India are protesting day and night, many artists and especially from the Punjabi entertainment industry are supporting farmers by taking initiative in the protests. So, we are bringing forth a discussion with an artist to better understand their contribution to this big scale agitation. We talked with Bir Singh, a leading Punjabi singer, songwriter and composer, who is supporting the protest from the very beginning. Here is an exclusive interview by Roopam Singh with Bir Singh.

How's the atmosphere in Delhi right now?

The temperature is falling, it is really cold and I am a little worried about the farmers who are sitting here day and night protesting for their rights. It's quite difficult for our brothers and sisters to sleep at night in this cold weather, bathe on sideroads and go through this hardship.

How many people are protesting in Delhi? And are there artists who are supporting the protest?

I am at the Kundali border from the very beginning of this protest and I have seen that more and more people are joining the crowd. I think there would be around 2 lakh people protesting at the border. And yes, artists are showing their full support to the farmers and their involvement in the Twitter wars about the protest, it helped in creating more awareness among the masses about what's actually going on in the country.

Which artists are spearheading this movement and are contributing the most in gathering the crowd for supporting this protest?

Artists like Amrinder Singh Gill, Diljit Dosanjh, Harf Cheema, Kanwar Garewal and I, myself are one of those who are committed to this agitation from day one. If we also talk about the situation from three months ago in Punjab, I, Harf Cheema and Kanwar Garewal were always there for support.

You wrote a song 'Mitti De Puttro Ve' for the farmers and their sufferings due to the ongoing agricultural conditions in the in a movie called Soorjan Vaale. Tell us something about that.

Yes. I think if you want to fight for a long time and for a big issue like this then you should be very intelligent to know about every aspect that affects your country and your people. You have to know about world politics and how it affects your nation or if America or Russia is taking a decision, then how it impacts the democracy of India. You should know the chain that how it affects your nation, your states, and even your family. At the protest, we often discuss things like how one can increase their knowledge and can make more people aware of the ongoing situations. We even discussed Lala Lajpat Rai, the Tashkent case and the big families that run their corporate business and their role in politics. Also, how politics affects the world wars and why do they even happen! So, if people need to get aware of these aspects so that they can have an intelligent mind to walk with leadership.

Are the artists and people protesting with you consist of the majority of Jat Sikhs?

No. It's not only about the farmers of Punjab but it also includes the people of Haryana, UP, MP, and other areas. And the reason that farming is seen basically with the Jat farmers, it has become a misunderstanding that the protest is only about the farmers of Punjab. When there were trolleys full of people that left for Delhi from Punjab, we were not only Jat Sikhs. This is not a Jat Sikh agitation.

The protesters are being called Khalistaanis and that most of them are supporting their personal agenda. A lot of branding is seen within this protest and people are being misunderstood. How do you feel about this?

See, it was a planned strategy to stop the protest as the protests were being noticed very peacefully. They did not have a reason to stop the agitation, so they planned to call us anti-national in order to support their agendas. Their target is to gain emotional sympathy from the media or social media followers by making them believe that the government is in support of the farmers but these protestors are anti-nationalists. It was also being said that the funds for the protest are supported by the Khalistaanis and they even tried to call this protest an anti-national movement by indulging their personal force. But, now it seems that their tricks did not work as they do not have proof to support their false claims. Our main motive is to aware the youth that if they find someone calling themselves Khalistaanis, then you should ask them with your folded hands who they are and why they are doing this. And this is how we are taking care of this agitation.

This protest is being supported by the educated and secular leadership. You are a trained folk and classical artist, you have succeeded in commercial music, and now you are playing the role of a social activist who is protecting a community that is being attacked. So, tells us from the artist's point of view how your education and background have contributed to supporting this agitation?

I have worked ten years for Punjabi folk and when you learn folk, you get very attached to your soil, your culture. I live in a village and I am much involved in gardening and all, so farming is in my blood. My interest in singing emerged from the moment I enjoyed my mother's lullaby and when I learned the deepness of music, I realised the emotion in it, it's like a growing seed. Just like music blossoms within you over the years, the same is the concept of farming. (Compares the process of music with farming). Even the wise words of Guru Nanak Dev Ji connect with music, so, the connection has always been there. Music gives me emotion and love for nature.

As far as my knowledge goes, you are a writer, a composer and a singer. You do all three things. So, what according to you is the field that you're most talented in?

I have more experience in singing as I started singing when I was five. I was six when I started writing and then composition happened. I don't have technical knowledge in these fields except singing, I just write what I feel. I am not a skilled writer, I am an emotional writer.

You are indeed a great writer singer. Do you feel it luck or destiny that great personalities like Gurmeet Bawa and Amrinder Gill noticed and encouraged you in your career? What role they play in your career and what would it have been without them?

What I feel is that the basic nature of our soul is to give love and other emotions like envy are just in our minds. And if your intentions are clear and genuine then you are poured in with love and that's exactly what happened with me. I met Gurmeet Bawa in a show and she got pretty impressed with my singing and decided to guide me through my journey. It all started with music but now it has become more like a family.

What about Amrinder Gill?

It all started very naturally when Amrinder Gill shared a song of mine and it filled my heart with utter happiness. You know, I never imagined that a big star like him would share my song. One day, I got a call from his team asking that he wants to work with me. Then we met and one of my writings got selected and Amrinder loved that so much that it resulted in giving his voice to my writing and it came out as the song 'Heerey'. Although the song was initially for my album when he asked me to sing my creation, then what else do I need! Our villages are quite near, our culture is quite similar and our same nature also made our bonding more beautiful. Even in this time of agitation, we manage to talk to each other almost every other day.

Would you like to tell the people about what kind of relation a production house and a singer shares? As you have done some great works with T-series and Rhythm Boyz. So, are you a freelancer to them or they hire you. How does it all work?

In the case of the T-series, I used to get the projects ready and they used to publish them if they liked the project. However, talking about Rhythm Boyz, we are like a team or more like a family. Even my Youtube channel runs with their guidance and support as they are more experienced than me. With most of the production houses, they sign the artists or some artists even do the freelancing thing. But in my case, I am working for love and I am getting love.

What are the future perspectives regarding your career? Are you thinking about acting?

Right now I am not looking at anything because I do not plan long term goals. I just do what my heart says. I have never thought of acting but I might go with film writing or dialogue writing in the future.

What is your personal contribution to what is happening to Punjab today? Whether it's in Arts, farming or political level. So, what's your personal take on the current situation?

Right now, Punjab's collective consciousness is taking a beautiful turn. Earlier people used to search about rubbish topics like Guns, Cars, Girls which do not contribute to our well being but now the same youth wants to know about what's happening around the country and how we can fix it. But now the youth of Punjab has proved that they are not that stupid how others think they are. They are now more into questioning. Talking about the protest, Prime Minister Modi Ji would have never thought that this situation can ever emerge. Even after water disputes between Haryana and Punjab, the people are now united and are seen talking that forget about the disputes but today we are together. It's so good to see that unity and harmony among the people of our country.

I think that it's the weakness of the Modi government that they did not recognise that 50 years ago, at the time of the industrial revolution in America, the people there were not generational farmers, farming was an occupational choice. Whether in India, especially in Punjab, we are generational farmers. We have inherited farming from our ancestors and here, people from different fields will stand up for their rights.

Here, people think that Farming is an occupation for us but they are not aware that land is like our mother. So, if you will point out your finger at our motherland, you should better know the consequences.

You also must have noticed that the urban farmers, who are educated and have their other sources of revenue, still like to keep farming as their primary interest.

I have seen on social media people sharing the posts like 'They are having 11 Pro Max, are they farmers?'. They feel that farmers should be in Kurta Pajamas, poor and should be riding cycles and how can they have a big car. I don't know why people are jealous of us or of the money we have!

It is quite difficult to understand. I went for a talk a few days before and some boys, who are graduated from Canada and have good jobs, were saying that we are comfort farmers. They are well-settled and said that they do not prefer farming for revenue but because it's their hobby. It's like a part of their identity. And I don't know about you. Are you in farming?

I do farming as per my knowledge. But no, I am not a comfort farmer.

Yes. This is the thing. It's part of their identity. It's a very big cultural issue to attack from the government's point of view.

Yes, even I can feel that the Modi government can't digest that we can speak English, they can't digest that we are on Twitter. They even can't digest that our people are very intelligent and are smarter than they are.

Do you believe in any kind of Khalistani discourse in the backdrop of what the government is doing right now? Do you identify as a Sikh first or simply just as a farmer?

See, Khalistan is not about the territory but it's about the Khalsa raj. Even if we'll talk about making geographical boundaries, then will there be a Khalsa Raj or will the government continues exploiting the people? So, Khalsa Raj means proper democracy, the freedom to speech. A democracy where people are being treated equally irrespective of their religion, caste, etc. And I feel this thing that whenever I go to America, I notice that the plumbers there are well-settled and plumbers in India are very poor. So, basically, the equal distribution of income is not there and Khalsa Raj believes that all are equal. I believe that every state should be given its freedom. We see this diversity where some people eat meat while some do not and we should enjoy this diversity. At the same time, we should be united with this diversity and that can be possible when everyone will be given their rights. We should not discriminate on the basis of religion and one should understand that Khalsa Raj is about treating a human as a human, no matter where they belong from. And if this is Khalistaan, then I want this Khalistan. And again I am saying that this is not about territories, it's about complete democracy and freedom of speech.

Yes, and it's also a question of Identity. You will respond when your geographical, political or occupational Identity is being threatened.

I want to add one more thing that whenever a country comes under the attack of terrorism, it becomes very easy for them to raise more funds from the World Bank and even their previous debt gets cleared. So, many of these countries come up with rumours to gain those funds. So, the real meaning of Khalsa or Sikhi is love and it's just not for Sikh people but for everyone, for people of every religion, even for the animals. Because the primary learning of Sikhism is love and patience. Sikhism is about everyone, like Guru Nanak is not only for one religion but it's for everyone. The four gates of Harminder Sahib are the symbol of welcoming everyone from wherever they come. Even I talk with my Hindu and Muslim brothers and I ask them about their scriptures, their culture. I was not a student of Sanskrit but I like to know about each other's religion. So, it's very important to have this kind of cultural trade, to have people discussing things about their cultures and this can lead to a good democracy. We have to understand that religions are for humanity, humanity is not for religions. Humanity comes first. We should talk about Universal brotherhood, and how one can create harmony among the people. So, I say this once again that the main motive of Khalsa Raj or Sikhism is about universal brotherhood, it's about compassion and unity among each other.

Bir, on this note, thank you very much. Best of luck with your protest. Best of luck with your career.

Thank you, Roopam Ji. It was very nice talking with you.