Sarna defends Sidhu on picture with pro-Khalistan leader

GS Paul
Tribune News Service
Amritsar, November 29

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Following the controversy about Local Bodies Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu being photographed with Pakistan-based pro-Khalistan leader Gopal Singh Chawla, former Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee president Paramjit Singh Sarna has come out in his defence.

Sarna, along with brother Harvinder Singh Sarna, returned to India on Thursday through the Attari post after attending the ground-breaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor.

Appreciating Sidhu’s association with Imran Khan, Sarna said the corridor was the outcome of the continuous efforts and prayers of Sikhs, but the Sidhu-Khan friendship had played a pivotal role in this.

“We should accept the fact that Sidhu’s contribution in making the corridor a reality cannot be ignored. The credit war is on among political parties, but the credit goes to Sidhu to make it possible. He is being unnecessarily targeted by posting his pictures with Chawla because of the narrow-minded approach of political parties like the BJP and SAD. I am witness to the scene where there were a number of people wanting to be photographed with Sidhu and Chawla was also there. I saw that Sidhu was trying to avoid Chawla, who at last was successful in fitting into the frame,” he said.

He said the pictures of SGPC president Gobind Singh Longowal and Chawla were also there on social media. “Why is the SAD-BJP silent on it? The issue is being unnecessarily politicised,” he said.

On the issue of proposing Nankana Sahib as the sixth Takht of Sikhs, the SAD (Delhi) president said he had put a proposal before the Sikh devotees in Pakistan. “I just sought to declare Guru Nanak’s birthplace as the sixth Takht of Sikhs and 99 per cent of Sikhs in Pakistan approved it. It is for the Akal Takht to take a final call,” he said.