(Express photo by Jasbir Malhi)
Punjab Local Bodies minister Navjot Singh Sidhu’s controversial hug with Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa came up during Tuesday’s Cabinet meeting with Punjab Chief Minister Amarinder Singh conveying his disappointment to his Cabinet colleague personally.
Sources told The Indian Express that Amarinder broached the issue himself and told Sidhu that General Bajwa had no administrative authority to convey about opening of a corridor to Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib on the other side of the border. He is also learnt to have told Sidhu that his hug with General Bajwa would not have gone down well on this side of the border when so many defence personnel have been killed by the “enemy’s bullets”. The CM added that he too had been conveyed about opening of said corridor several times but this had not happened till now.
Defending himself, Sidhu told the CM about the circumstances under which he got so “emotional” and reciprocated General Bajwa’s hug. He said General Bajwa’s disclosure about corridor to Kartarpur Sahib was such an emotive issue for him that he took General Bajwa as the harbinger of such a good news.
Later, Rural and Panchayat Development Minister Tripat Rajinder Singh Bajwa urged Amarinder that Punjab should take up the issue of the corridor strongly with Pakistan through a proper channel, and push for the channel to be opened at least to mark Guru Nanak Dev’s 550th birth anniversary next year.
Soon after the Cabinet meeting, Sidhu addressed a press conference over the controversy. Answering his critics, he said: “Crores of pilgrims have always been waiting to pay obeisance at holy Kartarpur Sahib, the place where Guru Nanak Dev Ji spent nearly 18 years of his life. When General Bajwa broached the same issue, it was an emotional moment for me and the result was for everyone to see. After that brief meeting in the gathering, I had no meeting with General Bajwa.”
“Kya karta? Tum hi samjha do. Is there no human element in reciprocating a gesture like that? Would anyone turn his back?” he said. Saying that he was “disappointed” and “hurt” by the criticism over a sudden meeting and his “emotional reaction”.
Sidhu said he had a 42-minute long one-on-one meeting with Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. “It was a meeting between two friends. I will not share the details of that meeting. All I can say is that we talked about peace. Rest is up to the concerned governments to take up the issue and take it to a logical conclusion.” He made it clear that it was a personal visit to Pakistan and he did not go there as a politician.
Responding to a question that Amarinder had criticised him, Sidhu said, “If he speaks against me, it does not mean I should also speak against him.”