Sidhu, ‘an Indian by the way’

Navjot Singh Sidhu should be ashamed of being a friend of such a person, but he boasts his proximity to Imran Khan instead.

Punjab Minister and former cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu is an embarrassment to the state government, the Congress, indeed to the entire nation. He should be sacked forthwith. In fact, he should have been sacked when he had hugged the Pak Army chief, Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, a few months ago.

While Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan used the foundation laying ceremony of Kartarpur corridor to further the jihadist agenda on Kashmir, Sidhu lionized him, saying, “Mera yaar, dildaar, Imran Khan jive (May my friend Imran Khan thrive, live). He is a good friend who has delivered on his promise to establish the Kartarpur corridor.”

At the groundbreaking ceremony, Imran Khan said his country is “on the same page” about a “civilized relationship with India… The only issue between us is, Kashmir.”

Khan a good friend? Whose? Certainly not India’s. It is well-documented that the only people he is friendly with are the ISI and terrorists, the people who slaughter our soldiers and citizens. Sidhu should be ashamed of being a friend of such a person, but he boasts his proximity with Khan instead. He doesn’t listen to Bharatiya Janata Party leaders and others who object to his pro-Pakistan remarks and gestures. He doesn’t listen to even his own boss, Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, who seems incensed with his Minister’s outrageous behaviour.

“You are Minister in the government and you are an Indian by the way. Indians don’t encourage generals who attack India,” Singh, a former Army officer, said while speaking to Arnab Goswami of Republic TV. “I don’t know why he has a habit of doing these things. Probably he has been on camera so often that he says these things without thinking. But the thing is that I raise this point last time when he hugged General Bajwa. I told him this was no business of you to do because every day my soldiers are being shot. My own battalion lost a major and two Jawans a few weeks ago.”

But, evidently, Captain Singh’s sane counsel fell on deaf ears. While Singh should be lauded for his clear thinking and plain speaking, so rare in today’s politics, the same cannot be said about his Minister. For Sidhu continues with his puerility, insolence, and bravado. He can neither read between the lines nor see through the sham pacifism of Pakistan. At the groundbreaking ceremony, Imran Khan said his country is “on the same page” about a “civilized relationship with India… The only issue between us is, Kashmir.”

“I already visited Pakistan, and it was me only who started the comprehensive bilateral dialogue. But what happened after that? Pathankot. What happened after that? Uri. So we have to take the big picture.” – Sushma Swaraj

And Hafiz Saeed? Not an issue? And 26/11, Uri, Pathankot, the attack on Parliament earlier, the continuous export of terror to India? All these are non-issues? Pakistanis murder our people, attack our security personnel, bomb our cities—and, simultaneously, talk about “civilized relationship with India.” It’s like preaching the virtues of vegetarianism while savouring bacon and sausages. Seldom was hypocrisy so sanguinary and obvious. Unfortunately, there are dodoes in our country like Sidhu who can’t see the obvious.

Thankfully, Foreign Minister Sushma Swaraj is smart enough to respond appropriately. Making it clear that India won’t participate in Saarc meet, she said, “The moment Pakistan stops terrorist activities in India, the dialogue can start.”

She did not attend the groundbreaking ceremony, though Union Ministers Harsimrat Kaur Badal and Hardeep Singh Puri represented India at the event. Swaraj justified her absence: “I already visited Pakistan, and it was me only who started the comprehensive bilateral dialogue. But what happened after that? Pathankot. What happened after that? Uri. So we have to take the big picture.”

Evidently, Sidhu can’t take the big picture, but he has pretensions of perceptiveness. His popularity as a cricket commentator and television host has deluded him into believing that he has a deep understanding of everything. He confuses his own glibness with eloquence and acuity. Some fault also lies with philistinism that is rampant; smoothness often passes off as profundity. Characters like Sidhu thrive in such a socio-cultural milieu. He even became a Punjab Minister. This is time for him to go.

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Ravi Shanker Kapoor

The author is Editor, www.thehinduchronicle.com

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