Punjabi music and film star Diljit Dosanjh’s rejoinders in Punjabi to Bollywood enfant terrible Kangana Ranaut over her disparaging comments on the farmers’ agitation have broken the Internet and are shaping up to become a cultural phenomenon.

Public spats between film personalities are not uncommon but tweets in a language spoken by only 3 per cent Indians going viral in the country is rare. Dosanjh’s tweets have become a rage, with several translations offered online.

Kangana Ranaut File picture

They have inspired memes such as: “Whole of South Indian Twitter rushing to learn Punjabi in a day because of Diljit Dosanjh; Central government has been trying to get us to learn Hindi for 70 years.”

Dosanjh’s retort of “gallan na ghuma (don’t change the topic)” has already become a standard response to Right-wing trolls, for whom Ranaut has been a rallying point because of her outbursts against the Opposition.

Farmers’ children take online classes on Saturday during the protest against the new farm laws at the Singhu border between Delhi and Haryana. PTI

Amandeep Sandhu, author and chronicler of Punjab’s history, explained the appeal of Dosanjh’s ripostes to Ranaut, who had targeted two elderly women, one protesting against the Citizenship Amendment Act (CAA) and the other against the new farm laws.

“The influence of Punjab on food, cinema and music is so deep that it is easy to catch up with the language, especially when it is written in the Roman script. Everyone is happy to see the humbling of somebody who looked like the representative of the middle class — struggled to achieve fame, won national awards, and established herself as a great actress — but now speaks like a paid troll,” Sandhu said.

“He did not curse, but just kept prodding and was squarely focused on what Ranaut had said about the old lady.”

Farmers sweep roads at the Singhu border. PTI

Ranaut had on November 27 tweeted the pictures of Bilkis, the 82-year-old face of last winter’s Shaheen Bagh agitation against the new citizenship regime, and an elderly woman from the farmers’ protest.

The actress suggested they were the same person — a protester for hire.

In a tweet she later deleted, Ranaut wrote: “Ha ha ha she is the same dadi who featured in Time magazine for being the most powerful Indian…. And she is available in 100 rupees. Pakistani journo’s have hijacked international PR for India in an embarrassing way. We need our own people to speak for us internationally.”

On Wednesday, Dosanjh posted the first of a series of tweets in Punjabi, written in the Roman script, questioning the defamation of the protesters. He tweeted a BBC video of the second woman that identified her as Mohinder Kaur and in which she explained why she opposed the new farm laws.

“Look at this proof @KanganaTeam. A person shouldn’t be so blind. She (Ranaut) keeps on saying anything,” Dosanjh wrote.

Ranaut called Dosanjh a “pet” and a “bootlicker” of Karan Johar, a filmmaker she has berated as the “flag-bearer” of nepotism in Bollywood.

She accused Dosanjh of misleading the farmers, being party to unspecified bloodshed, and “defending those who caused Delhi riots” — an insinuation, echoed by the Right wing and the police, that protesters like Bilkis had plotted the February riots that killed 53 people, 40 of them Muslims.

“You think these people (protesting farmers) want violence? You bring up violence on every topic, what do you want? They’re equivalent to god for us. You never learnt how to talk with respect. Punjabis will teach you how to talk to your elders,” Dosanjh hit back.

“Bring it on, you ill-minded rude person,” he said in another tweet. “I was talking about a mother whose picture you put calling her a Rs 100 daily wager. Did you hear her reply or should I send again? Don’t twist the topic, don’t run away. Your connections may work in Bollywood, not with Punjabis.”

Farmers at the protest at the Singhu border on Saturday. Prem Singh

Dosanjh’s reminders that Punjab is not Bollywood and his questioning of the way in which even elderly women have become fair game for political defamation have led to many Punjabi celebrities — including those like Mika Singh who have backed Ranaut in the past — speaking out against the actress.

Bollywood remained silent except for the usual suspects such as Swara Bhaskar, Taapsee Pannu and Richa Chadha.

Farmers at the protest at the Singhu border on Saturday. Prem Singh

“Diljit has spoken on behalf of many in the industry who can’t. He could do so because he has the moral conviction to speak against what is wrong,” film critic and author Ziya Us Salam told this newspaper.

“Also, he does not have the high stakes that the Khans or Karan Johar have. He has taken the bull by its horns…. He was smart to speak in Punjabi — which is addressed to the farmers — and often writing something in Hindi or English to keep the attention of others.”

Dosanjh’s salvo has compelled the BJP — which found itself at the receiving end of the Punjabi rage provoked by Ranaut — to distance itself from her.

Party spokesperson and Punjab politician R.P. Singh tweeted on Friday night: “@KanganaTeam I respect you for your courage & acting but I will not accept anyone disrespecting or demeaning my mother. You must make a public apology for doing so. #MohinderKaur.”

Ranaut tweeted a statement on Friday night claiming she had promoted agro-forestry and calling the new farm laws “revolutionary”.

“I am with my farmers and people of Punjab hold special place in my heart…. My request to farmers across the nation is don’t let any communists/ Khalistani tukde gangs hijack your protests,” she said.

The actress has been slapped with a legal notice from the Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee for her tweets against the farmers’ agitation.

Representatives of farmers’ unions eat food they had brought with them to a meeting with the government at Vigyan Bhavan in New Delhi on Saturday. PTI

Dosanjh visited the protest site at Singhu on the Delhi-Haryana border on Saturday evening and addressed the protesting farmers in Punjabi and Hindi.

Farmers burn an effigy in Amritsar on Saturday. PTI

“I’m saying it in Hindi too, sir, so you don’t have to Google it. Nothing besides (issues of) the farmers is being spoken about here,” he said.

“May the issue not be diverted. May the government agree to whatever the farmers want. Everyone is sitting here peacefully; no talk of bloodshed (here). Many things happen on Twitter; everyone takes you in circles. But I fold my hands and pray to you, the national media, please show it that we are sitting here peacefully.”