“Ka Ba” Singer Faces Sedition Over Posts On Pahalgam Attack

Bhojpuri singer Neha Singh Rathore was booked on sedition charges for an alleged "objectionable" post on social media in which she attacked the Modi government, claiming that the recent Pahalgam terrorist attack, which claimed 26 civilian lives, was an intelligence and security failure on the part of the ruling dispensation.

The case was filed against Neha in Lucknow's Hazratganj after an X handle, run by a Pakistani journalists' group, reposted her video in which she claimed that PM Modi will now be seeking votes in Bihar in the name of the Pahalgam attack, just like, she claimed, after the 2019 Pulwama terror attack in which 40 CRPF personnel were killed. The singer has previously found herself in the middle of controversies for similar social media posts.

According to the FIR registered against Neha, her X post adversely affects national integrity to incite people to commit crimes against each other on the basis of religion and caste. She has continuously shared videos on social media, raising questions about innocent people killed in the Pahalgam attack, the FIR said. It further read that Neha Singh Rathore's "anti-national" statements are going viral in Pakistan, where she is being praised for her attacks on the Modi government. "All these anti-national statements of Neha Singh Rathore are being used against India in the Pakistani media," it added.

The Bhojpuri singer has also been accused of undermining the honour and respect of the country's poet community as well as India as a nation. In her video posted on April 25, Neha Singh Rathore trained guns on Prime Minister Narendra Modi and said that the person who could bring a halt to the (Russia-Ukraine) war merely on a phone call, could not avert a terrorist attack in his own country, and targeted the PM's supporters for asking her not to "politicise" the issue and ask questions.

She attacked the PM, saying that despite the 56-inch chest, a term often used to refer to bold decisions taken by the government, people are getting killed. "Should I question Mohammad Ali Jinnah?" She went ahead to claim that PM Modi will seek votes in the name of the Pahalgam attack victims, "just like after the Pulwama attack".

Rathore's songs such as 'Bihar Mein Ka Ba' (2020), 'UP Mein Ka Ba?' (2022), 'UP Mein Ka Ba? Session-2' (2023), and 'MP Mein Ka Ba?' (2023) became widely popular on social media. 'Bihar Mein Ka Ba', released in 2020 during the Bihar Assembly election, was used to focus on issues related to Bihar workers. In January 2022, Rathore released 'UP Mein Ka Ba?, as a critique of the governance in Uttar Pradesh, addressing issues such as deaths during the COVID-19 pandemic, Lakhimpur Kheri violence, and the Hathras gang rape case.