Won’t be cowed down by trolls, Sidhu on Pulwama backlash

No one from Cong bats for minister after his remarks; Jakhar, Surjewala refuse to comment

In the eye of the storm over his remarks on the Pulwama attack, Punjab local bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday said he will not be cowed down by trolls and BJP propaganda against him even as no one from the Congress batted for the ex-cricketer.

As hashtags asking people to boycott Sidhu, Kapil Sharma Show and Sony TV were trending on Twitter and BJP leaders took to Sidhu-bashing during television debates, the minister was sacked by the producers of the popular television show, to which Sidhu refused to comment. “I had called the attack a handiwork of a few terrorists and said the country cannot surrender to them. I will not be cowed down by trolls and media houses controlled by the BJP. Everyone knows who is behind all this (Sidhu bashing).”

The minister had told reporters on Friday: “It (the attack) is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished. But can a few terrorists stop a nation’s development or aspirations of 12 crore followers of Guru Nanak for a corridor to Kartarpur.”

PARTY’S RESPONSE

Sidhu, a star campaigner for the Congress in the recently held polls, was at Pune in the first week of February to hold discussions with youth for the National Youth Policy to be unveiled by Congress president Rahul Gandhi before the Lok Sabha polls. But no one from the Congress defended the minister.

Punjab Congress chief Sunil Jakhar, who had supported Sidhu after his hug to Pak army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony in August last year, said he would not like to comment on Sidhu’s remarks. “Whether Sidhu has been removed from ‘The Kapil Sharma Show’ has nothing to do with the party,” he said.

Jakhar chose to echo the views of CM Amarinder Singh that peace and terror cannot go hand in hand. “Pakistan has to realise

that it cannot provide a safe haven for terror groups and talk peace too. The NDA regime has the intelligence and diplomatic inputs to ensure such acts are not repeated,” Jakhar said.

When contacted, Congress spokesman Randeep Singh Surjewala too did not comment. But a party senior leader said there was nothing wrong in what Sidhu said. “The BJP is creating a furore as it wants to stop Sidhu from campaigning against it in the upcoming Lok Sabha polls. To mix his professional commitments with his political statements is wrong. Sidhu’s remarks were made in context of the Kartarpur Corridor,” the leader said, requesting anonymity.

Amarinder, who had criticised Sidhu after his hug with Bajwa and refused to accept Imran’s invite for groundbreaking ceremony in Pakistan and snubbed Sidhu for doing otherwise, has so far not reacted to the minister’s statement. While the Shiromani Akali Dal asked Rahul to sack Sidhu for his “anti-national” remarks, the principal Opposition, Aam Aadmi Party, maintained a stoic silence on what Sidhu said or his reported ouster from the show.