Why Virat Kohli, Hardik and KL Rahul unfollowed Shubh, Punjabi rapper from Brampton

Virat Kohli has unfollowed him and consumer electronics brand boAT has withdrawn its sponsorship of his India tour, which was to begin on Saturday, September 23, with a performance on Cordelia Cruises, Mumbai. So, who is Shubh?

The Punjab-born, Brampton, Canada-based 26-year-old rapper Shubhneet Singh waded into controversy on a day when India-Canadian ties hit rock bottom after Prime Minister Justin Trudeau accused "Indian agents" of perpetrating the June 23 killing of Khalistani separatist Hardeep Singh Nijjar at a gurudwara in Surrey, Vancouver.

In an Instagram post captioned 'Pray for Punjab', along with two folded hands emojis, this baby-faced follower of the late Sidhu Moosewala ran a map of India without the Union Territory of Jammu and Kashmir, Punjab and the North-East on it.

His fans are shocked, especially Kohli, who had some time back responded to a song posted by Subh on Instagram, saying: "My favourite artist right now @shubhworldwide and my all-time dancer doing what he does on this song is love. Truly mesmerised."

After Kohli unfollowed Shubh, cricketers K.L. Rahul and Hardik Pandya did just that. Shubh, incidentally, has one million followers on Instagram and 13 million monthly listeners on Spotify.

Explaining its decision, boAT said in a statement on X: "At boAt, while our commitment to the incredible music community runs deep, we are first and foremost a true Indian brand. When we became aware of the remarks made by artist Shubh earlier this year, we chose to withdraw our sponsorship from the tour."

The "remarks" alluded to in the boAT statement refer to an Insta post that Shubh eventually deleted. He put it up during the Punjab Police hunt for Khalistani terrorist Amritpal Singh and the arrest of many of the singer's followers.

Shubh rose to prominence with his 2021 track, 'We Rollin', which helped him gain a following in the Punjabi diaspora across Canada, the UK, the US, and New Zealand. Then his single, 'Baller', also made it to the Billboard Canadian Hot 100, ranked No. 68.

The rapper started in 2021 with the single 'Don't Look' that he co-produced with Punjabi pop artist Irman Thiara. Later, he released his breakthrough single, 'We Rollin', which is to date his most streamed song. Next to follow were 'Elevated' and 'Offshore'.

Earlier this year, Shubh released his debut album 'Still Rollin', which ranked No. 16 on the Billboard Canadian charts.