Khalistani aa gaye hoye: Diljit Dosanjh says he's targeted in both India and abroad

Singer-actor Diljit Dosanjh addressed the criticism he faces in India, saying a section of people mock him with the phrase "Khalistani aa gaye hoye" - a spin on his popular slogan. The 42-year-old once again used his concert stage to respond to the political backlash, this time during his Aura tour stop in Edmonton, Canada, on May 2.

The moment came after a child in the audience shouted, "Punjabi aa gaye oye," a chant closely associated with Diljit since his Coachella performance in 2023.

The remark also came just days after a separate moment at his Calgary concert, where he paused the show after spotting a group of protesters waving Khalistan flags. Across both appearances, Diljit spoke about promoting Punjab wherever he goes, while also saying he is criticised both in India and by separatist groups abroad.

What happened at the concert?

During the Edmonton concert, Diljit told the audience he would do his best to make sure they had a good time. He then heard a child calling out to him. After asking the child to say it louder, the child shouted, "Punjabi aa gaye oye [Here comes Punjabis]." Responding in Punjabi, Diljit said, "Nobody can stop a child. A child will say whatever he wants to."

He then spoke about what he described as criticism from both sides. "When I go to India, they say, 'Khalistani aa gaya oye.' When I come here, they say something else. I get abuses from both sides. I don't get where I should go. There's only one path I know I should follow," he said, while signalling in the middle, as the audience cheered.

Diljit reacts to people waving Khalistani flags at his concert

At his Calgary concert a few days earlier, Diljit had stopped mid-show after noticing protesters waving Khalistan flags in the crowd. He told them they could keep waving the flags as much as they wanted, but said he would continue to make Punjab proud wherever he'd go. He referred to his appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, where he spoke about the 1914 Guru Nanak Jahaz tragedy in Canada to show how far Punjabis had come. He linked that to his Vancouver concert a couple of years ago, which he described as the biggest Punjabi concert outside India, held just a few miles away from where that tragedy had taken place a century earlier.

Diljit has also defended his appearance on Kaun Banega Crorepati (KBC), hosted by Amitabh Bachchan, saying that sitting across someone on television does not put him against Punjab. He was criticised by the Sikhs for Justice, or SFJ, a Khalistani group, after he touched Bachchan’s feet. Bachchan has been accused by several separatists of inciting violence against the Sikh community during the 1984 Sikh riots that followed the assassination of his family friend and then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.

The history

At the same time, Diljit has also faced accusations from India’s right-wing groups of supporting Khalistan. He supported the 2020-2021 farmers' protests in India, after which right-wing voices labelled him a Khalistani supporter, a charge he strongly denied.

He also came under scrutiny last year when he appeared alongside Pakistani actor Hania Aamir in the Punjabi comedy Sardaar Ji 3, three months after the Pahalgam terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir. During the India leg of his record-breaking Dil-Luminati Tour in 2024, he again found himself caught between opposing sides. After protesters threatened to disrupt his Indore concert, though unsuccessfully, he quoted the city’s Urdu poet Rahat Indori: "Kisi ke baap ka Hindustan thodi hai" (India doesn’t belong to anyone alone). Days later, he was seen with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in New Delhi.

That push and pull has also reflected in his film choices. In 2024, he played the title role of anti-establishment Punjabi singer Amar Singh Chamkila in Imtiaz Ali's Netflix India musical Amar Singh Chamkila. Earlier this year, he also appeared as a martyred Indian Air Force pilot in Anurag Singh’s period war drama Border 2. From his concerts to his screen appearances, Diljit continues to draw responses from different political corners, even as he says he is trying to stay on his own path.