As BJP aims at Navjot Sidhu again, Congress says row over hug ‘non-issue’

READ | Sidhu says hugging Pakistan Army chief was ‘human reaction’, bats for peace

He said the NDA government’s Pakistan policy has swung from the sublime to the ridiculous since 2014. “In 2014, the Prime Minister invited former Pakistan PM Nawaz Sharif for his swearing-in. Three months later they decided to call off the Foreign Secretary-level talks on the Hurriyat question. It was followed by some kind of a talk between the two national security advisers in Bangkok…. Then you had the Prime Minister’s sudden dash to Lahore, followed by the Pathankot terror attack.

READS | Imran Khan comes to Navjot Sidhu’s defence, says those targeting him doing disservice to peace

“It followed an invitation to the ISI for the first time ever to come and investigate their own doing,” Tewari said.

In Chandigarh, while Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh is said to have conveyed his disappointment at Sindhu’s controversial hug during a Cabinet meeting, Sidhu, the state Local Bodies minister, told the CM about the circumstances under which he got so “emotional” and reciprocated General Bajwa’s hug.

READ | ‘Act of disloyalty’: Haryana minister Anil Vij targets Navjot Singh Sidhu for attending Imran Khan’s swearing-in

He said Bajwa’s disclosure about the corridor to Kartarpur Sahib was an emotive issue for him.

Sidhu also said that he had a 42-minute one-on-one with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. “It was a meeting between two friends. I will not share details of that meeting. All I can say is that we talked about peace. The rest is up to the governments concerned…to take it to a logical conclusion,” Sidhu said, while making it clear that it was a personal visit and that he did not go there as a politician.

The BJP, meanwhile, maintained that that both the Congress and Sidhu have failed to explain why the latter visited Islamabad and hugged the Pakistan army chief. BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said, “Not only that, Sidhu’s press conference today was trying to implicate India for what is happening between India and Pakistan.”

Accusing Sidhu of backing Pakistan, he asked: “Have you opened a Pakistan desk in India? Sidhu is trying to preach 125 crore people how India has a ‘chhota dil (small heart)’. What is happening? I am asking this not as BJP spokesperson, but as a normal Indian who is annoyed today by the appalling behaviour of your party.”