New Delhi, February 14: After targeting former Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi over 1984 anti-Sikh riots, former Punjab minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday attacked cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who parted ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the Congress ahead of state assembly elections.
Accused Sidhu of insulting Sikh memorials, Badal said that the former-cricketer turned politician was “like a monkey”. “Navjot Singh Sidhu is like a monkey. He insulted the Sikh memorials we built by calling them white elephants,” he said.
“Does he mean that ‘Virasat-e-Khalsa’ which saluted the history of Sikhs is a white elephant?” Badal further added.
According to several media reports, Badal was quoted as saying that Sidhu’s statement was unacceptable as Virasat-e-Khalsa was a “repository of Sikh history, religion and culture”.
Badal further raised strong objection on the ruling Congress government allegedly making it a commercial entity.
“Let it be a people’s museum as conceived by Badal Sahab,” he added.
The controversy erupts almost two weeks after Badal targeted former PM Rajiv Gandhi citing a statement by Union Minister and Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots.
The Akali Dal leader further alleged that the then Prime Minister was “supervising the killings”.
“Jagdish Tytler has revealed that Rajiv Gandhi travelled with him across the city in 1984 when anti-Sikh riots were carried out in Delhi. It means that the then PM was supervising the killings,” said Badal.
Badal further said that the CBI must take this seriously as Tytler is a “very serious issue”.
Several media reports had quoted Jagdish Tytler as saying that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had gone to different parts of Delhi while the riots were on and was angry with Congress MPs as they were ordered by the party high command to contain the situation.