BJP questions Rahul’s silence over Sidhu’s ‘communal’ remarks

Tribune News Service

Amritsar, April 18

Punjab senior BJP leader Rajinder Mohan Singh Chhina on Thursday asked Congress national president Rahul Gandhi to break his silence over the "inflammatory and communal" remarks made by Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu. He viewed that Sidhu was resorting to "communal, unparliamentary and derogatory" language and Rahul must explain his stand on such tactics that the Congress was adopting.

Chinna was reacting to remarks made by cricketer-turned-politician during the Congress' election campaign in Bihar where there is a sizeable population of the minority community. Sidhu coaxed them to vote en bloc to defeat Prime Minister Narendra Modi, he said.

In a hard hitting statement against Sidhu, Chhina said though an FIR was lodged against Sidhu for violating the model code of conduct by exhorting Muslim voters in Bihar to vote for the Congress and some Congress leaders had come forward to condemn his remarks, yet the party’s national chief was yet to react. "The worst is that Rahul Gandhi, who is the captain of Sidhu, is yet to respond," he said.

According to Chhina, "Sidhu’s remote control seems to be in Pakistan and that is why he makes such statements which might flare up communal tension in the country." Former arch rival of Sidhu in Amritsar, Chhina said Sidhu could go to any extent to please the Gandhi family even if it may throw the country into communal divisions and disturbance of peace. "For Sidhu, Pakistan and communal divide come first and the nation later,” he added.