Punjabi singers have always been scared of something or the other. In late eighties and till early nineties they were scared of militants who had warned against vulgarity in their songs but now it is women activists who are training guns on at least five Punjabi singers for singing lecherous songs. And the singers and the companies promoting them appear to have taken the back foot.

On Thursday, activists of Istri Jagriti Manch burnt effigies of five singers, including a female singer in Model Town, before the office of a prominent music company of the state.

While this time the protest against vulgarity is democratic earlier in eighties of the last century the censure for Punjabi singers came out of barrel of the gun and even most (in)famous singer couple Amar Chamkila and Amarjot were gunned down in March 1988 for singing double meaning vulgar songs by the militants after which the artistes took care for several years that they would stick to cultural themes. Another difference is that earlier the warning had come from rightist forces but now there is also one from the activists of leftist orientation.

Jasbir Jassi, spokesperson of the Manch, said that even as there have been voices against vulgarity in Punjabi songs and saner elements have been writing and speaking out against it but better sense did not prevail and these singers continued presenting women as a commodity in their songs. "This was not only eroding the social ethos but also encouraging crime against women and violence in general," she said. "We shall target more singers if they would indulge in similar misadventure," she announced.

Swaran Tehna, one of the most prolific commentator on Punjabi music and its trends, said that this reaction by women should have happened earlier. "It should have been by the men but women had to take it up on their own as videos of these songs have been turning obscene in the last some years," he said. "Some of the singers have been saying that their target audience was youth of 15 to 21 years and they were not only singing lecherous but also promoting violence, weapons or gangs in their videos," he said.

Satwinder Singh, a key partner of Speed Records which has produced albums of Nusrat Fateh Ali Khan and Rahat fateh Ali Khan apart from some of these albums which are being alleged to be objectionable by women activists, said that they had already tendered apology and would take care that nothing which was not in consonance with Punjabi culture would be produced. "These singers are also wary and today they are not even picking up their phones," he said.

The singers whose common effigy was burnt with their photos hanging around the effigy included Diljit, Honey Singh, Gippy Grewal, Geeta Zaildar and Miss Pooja.