A popular Nepali folk singer has been forced to remove a satirical song on corruption from YouTube after a youth wing of the ruling communist party allegedly threatened him, local media reported on Monday.
Pashupati Sharma, a folk singer in his 30s, released a video of the song ‘Lutna Sake Lut, Nepal Mai Chha Chhut’ over the weekend, with the song immediately striking a chord among Nepalis angered by widespread corruption in the country.
The opening lyrics mean ‘Loot whatever you can since that's allowed only in Nepal.’ Sharma said he took off the video after he received threatening calls from members of Youth Federation of Nepal, a student wing of the ruling Nepal Communist Party.
‘They objected to certain words of the song. So I removed it [from YouTube]. I will upload it after revision,’ he told a local radio station on Monday.
The move has triggered protests from people who say it's an attack on freedom of expression and creative rights.
The current communist government has been accused of curtailing freedom of expression and increasing surveillance on social media users.
