CHANDIGARH: Less than two months after creating a controversy for hugging Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, Navjot Singh Sidhu has stirred up yet another contention by drawing an unwarranted cultural analogy between Pakistan and South India. Speaking at a literary festival in Kasol, Sidhu said, “If I go to Tamil Nadu, I don't understand the language. Not that I don't like the food, but I can't take it for long. That culture is totally different. But if I travel to Pakistan there is no difficulty. The language is the same and everything there is just amazing.”
The comparison was trying to highlight the cultural affinity Punjab shares with Pakistan, however, to say the Punjab Tourism and Culture Minister failed miserably would be a gross understatement. By comparing the sensitive lingual divide issue, Sidhu compounded his troubles. He also clarified his hug saying, “My jhappi was no conspiracy, it was no Rafale deal... If somebody tells me that they are ready to open the Kartarpur corridor. I mean they said it 400 times that we are ready to open the corridor then this is the way I show affection. I will hug and also kiss them. I care two hoots about people who play dirty politics on that. I have lived my life on my terms.'
Sidhu was on a visit to Pakistan to attend the oath-taking ceremony of Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan on August 18. It was during this visit that Sidhu hugged Bajwa and faced the ire of not only the BJP, but also his own Congress party. He claimed that Pakistan was considering a proposal to provide free access to Sikh devotees to a historic gurdwara just three km inside Pakistan. However, later, both the Indian and Pakistani governments confirmed that “no formal communication” took place on Kartarpur corridor issue.
