Sidhu trolls BJP, Digvijay trolls Sidhu, Capt takes on own minister via Pak
CHANDIGARH:Facing backlash over his remarks on the Pulwama terror attack, Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu is now fighting a virtual war. After his phone was hacked on Sunday, he has been receiving incessant calls from unknown numbers every minute and is not able to block them. To take on the trolls, he has started a hashtag, #IskaImpactAyegaKaNahi, on Twitter tagging a news channel and defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman to his every post.
The hashtag is to mock Nirmala’s statement to a news channel after Sidhu hugged Pak army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during the swearing-in of Imran Khan as the PM. Asked if the hug would demoralise armed forces, she had said: “Sidhu is a celebrity. If he hugs the Pak army chief, iska impact ayega ki nahi.”
With pictures of Prime Minister Narendra Modi hugging former Pakistan premier Nawaz Sharif; JeM terrorists being released at Kandahar as national security adviser Ajit Doval looks on; union minister Harsimrat Kaur Badal with incumbent Pak PM Imran Khan during the groundbreaking ceremony of Kartarpur Sahib corridor and a video of former J&K DGP, SP Vaid, questioning that why were CRPF personnel in Kashmir not airlifted — each post comes with the same poser, #IskaImpactAyegaKaNahi.
Sidhu, however, had to contend with party leader Digvijaya Singh, former Madhya Pradesh chief minister. Singh, on Tuesday, trolled him for saying an ‘entire nation can’t be held responsible for a terror attack’.
Singh urged Sidhu to convince his ‘friend’ and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan to act against terrorists. “Navjot Singh Sidhu ji apne dost Imran bhai ko samjhaiye. Uskii vajah se aap ko gali padh rahi hai (Convince your friend Imran. You (Sidhu) are getting abused because of him),” Digvijay said in a tweet.
On Monday, Congress spokesman Abhishek Singhvi had also ticked off Sidhu at a press conference by saying politicians should speak in sync with public sentiment.
The Indian Youth Congress (IYC) has sprung to Sidhu’s support by retweeting videos and posts. The national head of its social media team, Vaibhav Walia, has backed Sidhu. “You can’t fight terrorism like this. Fully support him on the issue,” Walia says in a tweet.
Amid reports of his being asked to leave the popular Kapil Sharma Show, the minister has also posted a video of actor Kapil Sharma, where he questions whether removing Sidhu from his show could resolve the issue (terror attacks). “If so, he (Sidhu) would leave my show on his own,” Sharma adds. This video of Sharma had clocked 6,600 retweets and 22,000 likes by Tuesday evening.
RIFT IN CAMPS WIDENS
Back home, the rift between the camps of Punjab chief minister Amarinder Singh and Sidhu has widened. The minister found support from his colleague, Sukhjinder Randhawa, in the House on Monday after the Akalis shouted slogans seeking his dismissal from the cabinet. “We are all against Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Sidhu has said nothing unpatriotic,” Randhawa says.
Though Amarinder, in a statement on Monday, said Sidhu is ‘not an anti-national’, he went to add that he (Sidhu) would have realised that he had gone overboard during his Pakistan visit. Bashing Pakistan, Amarinder had said, “If they killed 41, we should kill 82.”
On Tuesday, Amarinder trolled Imran Khan for his statement that India had no evidence of his country’s involvement in the Pulwama terror attack. “Dear @ImranKhanPTI you have Jaish chief Masood Azhar sitting in Bahawalpur and masterminding the attacks with ISI help. Go pick him up from there. Time to walk the talk,” the CM tweeted.
Sidhu refused to comment on the CM’s remarks. “My fight is with the BJP and the Akali Dal. It is like an entire call centre has been pressed into service to hack my phone. I have clarified my stand that terrorists should be given exemplary punishment. My party stands by me,” he said.
DOES SIDHU AGREE WITH IMRAN’S STATEMENT, QUESTIONS BADAL
Former Punjab CM Parkash Singh Badal hit out at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan for his ‘complete and deafening silence on the tragic terrorist attack at Pulwama and refusal to utter even a single word against those who had openly taken responsibility for the heinous crime’. He asked if Navjot Sidhu had heard Imran. “Does Sidhu still believe that terrorism has no backing from the government of a hostile country,” Badal said,