While the entire nation is fuming over the Pulwama terror attack, cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu has sparked a fresh controversy with his statement. He may have had condemned the unfortunate incident which took the precious lives of 40 CRPF personnel but his question on ‘blaming an entire nation [Pakistan]’ allowed some serious criticism.
Sidhu, who was among the invitees for the swearing-in ceremony of Imran Khan as Pakistan prime minister last year, however, posed, “For a handful of people, can you blame the entire nation and can you blame an individual?”
Talking to reporters here after the Punjab Assembly was adjourned for the day in solidarity with the CRPF soldiers killed in the terror attack, the cricketer-turned-politician said, “It (the attack) is a cowardly act and I condemn it firmly. Violence is always condemnable and those who did it must be punished.”
Further, he sounded a discordant note on Friday saying the dialogue with Islamabad should continue. He said, “Wherever wars are fought and such things happen, dialogue also continues simultaneously. There is a need to find a permanent solution to (issues between India and Pakistan).”
Sidhu’s remarks have turned the Indian citizens more furious. People took to their Twitter accounts and slammed the Punjab Cabinet Minister using the hashtag #boycottsidhu.
Here’re some of the reactions:
More than 2,500 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, many of them returning from leave to rejoin duty in the Valley, were travelling in a convoy of 78 vehicles when they were ambushed on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway at Latoomode in Awantipora in south Kashmir around 3.15 pm on Thursday.