Did Diljit Dosanjh Disrespect The Indian Flag At Coachella? A FactCheck

A video of Punjabi singer Diljit Dosanjh interacting with the audience at the Coachella music festival in California, United States is being shared with the misleading claim that he insulted the Indian national flag during his performance.

In the video, Dosanjh can be heard talking in Punjabi and referring to a girl in the audience holding the Indian national flag, and dedicating his performance to the country. This statement has been misinterpreted and shared with misleading claims on Twitter.

Dosanjh was the first Indian singer to perform at the Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival in Indio, California. He performed twice during the music festival on April 15, 2023, and April 22, 2023. The viral video has been clipped from his second performance.

The 18 seconds video was tweeted by the Twitter account PunFact with the caption, "Diljit Dosanjh accused a girl of inciting hatred by waving Indian flag during a music performance in America. He said "Don't spread hate, music belongs to everyone, not one country" @diljitdosanjh Do you have no respect for Indian tricolor? #diljit #tricolor #indianflag"

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The same video was also tweeted by the Twitter handle Mr Sinha with the caption, "So @diljitdosanjh objects when someone waves Indian tricolour during one of his concert in US. Which passport he’s carrying? Republic of KhaIistan? Shame one those Indians who listen to such 2rs artists.."

Click here to view, and here for an archive

The viral video is also being shared on Facebook with the misleading claim.

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FACT-CHECK

BOOM viewed footage from the concert and found that Diljit Dosanjh's statement has been misinterpreted to make the claim that he insulted the Indian national flag.

We found several replies to the viral tweet stating Dosanjh who was speaking in Punjabi, did not say anything against the national flag.

In the above 20 seconds video, Dosanjh can be heard thanking everyone for attending the concert and refers to a girl in the audience who brought the Indian national flag with her while dedicating his performance to the country.

We further searched for a longer video of this interaction from the concert and found a 8.37 minutes video uploaded on Facebook. In this video too, after translating Dosanjih's statement from Punjabi to English, the claim that he insulted the Indian flag in his conversation is incorrect.

At the 7.40 minutes timestamp, the translation of Dosanjih's interaction from Punjabi to English reads, "All this for my Punjabi brothers and sisters. That girl is standing with the flag of my country. This (program) is also for my country. Music is for all, music does not belong to any single one. Please avoid negativity. Yes brother, it is yours too."

He further sarcastically makes fun of his English saying, “The problem of my English is big problem. I don't know where I would be if my English was good. Wherever you guys come from, a very very welcome to all of you from me and Coachella. Wherever your country, from where you are, love you brother. Lots of love and respect to all. Punjabi community is a loving community. Lots of love to all”.

We also found the viral video that was tweeted with misleading claims on Twitter was originally posted by Amritsar Kesari of Punjab Kesari Group without any claim that he insulted the national flag.

Additionally, Dosanjih also tweeted rubbishing the viral claim that he insulted the national flag.

The tweet when translated from Punjabi reads, "Don't spread fake news and negativity. I said this is my country's flag, this is for my country. means this performance of mine is for my country. If you don't know Punjabi, then Google it, friend. Because Coachella is a big music festival, people from all countries come there, so music is shared by all. How to turn right thing into wrong one, should learn from like you. Google it too."