Singer Shubneet Singh, also known by his stage name Shubh, uploaded an artwork on his Instagram account that sparked a fierce criticism from Indians. The piece of art included a distorted map of India, with the states of Punjab and Haryana portrayed in black, large portions of Jammu and Kashmir missing, whole north-east provinces gone.
In the end, his performance in Mumbai was cancelled. Shubh was dubbed a supporter of Khalistan after the tweet caused such a stir. Shubh received support from a number of Canadian-based Punjabi musicians, but Indian cricketers Virat Kohli, KL Rahul, and Hardik Pandya unfollowed the singer on Instagram.
The artwork’s creator has since disclosed the true significance of the map. When power and internet connections were cut off in Punjab, the artist, Amandeep Singh, stated that his objective was to depict the blackout. Along with the explanation, he included the map in his message.
According to the artist, Kangana Ranaut gave the whole thing a Khalistani perspective. He also mentioned that he supports Shubh towards the conclusion of his message.
Nonetheless, people seemed to be agitated with the artwork which reflected well in the comment section. A comment read, “You had removed J&K and the entire north-east of India from India’s map. That’s why the outrage; you could have shown the full map and Punjab as black; everyone would have understood why you were trying to convey.”
