Deol’s ‘instigation’ barb against staff irks trade unions

Ravi Dhaliwal

Tribune News Service

Gurdaspur, February 18

Gurdaspur MP Sunny Deol dropped a bomb at the fag-end of his three-day visit by publicly stating that Punjab Government employees “were impressing upon the people that they had elected a wrong candidate”.

Within no time, powerful trade unions and Congressmen, including ministers and legislators, took him to task.

In a speech in Dinanagar on Monday, a video of which has gone viral, he ridiculed the employees and went on to say “Sab nu pata ke jad kisse da kutappa karna howe tan maitho bura koin banda nahi hai (everybody knows that when it comes to beating up someone, nobody does it better than me).” This was an oblique reference to the employees and his political opponents.

“This man speaks wrong words at the right place and the right words at the wrong place. Why on earth will our employees go to the extent of saying people have voted for an unsuitable candidate? What will they gain out of it? He is living in a world of fantasy and is out of touch with the reality of ground-level politics. Somebody should better tell him that his dialogues sound better only in films,” said Cabinet minister, Sukhjinder Singh Randhawa.

Qadian MLA Fateh Jung Singh Bajwa for once came out of his shell to lambast the film star. “Our MP is all fluff and no substance. He is touting the elevation of the narrow gauge track in Pathankot as his achievement. Actually, the project was conceptualised by my brother Partap Singh Bajwa when he was Gurdaspur MP from 2009 to 2014. He is good at pulling wool over the eyes of the general public. Even after a year of being elected, Deol has yet to make his debut speech in Parliament?” he said.

Trade unions have called a meeting to discuss the insinuations levelled by him. Harjinder Singh, state committee member of the powerful Democratic Mulazim Front, asked the MP to work for the betterment of his constituents rather than misleading them by making frivolous statements.

The MP said he had come to the area to identify and solve problems and he “did not want to be part of petty politicking”.