Nirmala Sitharaman- File pic
Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman on Tuesday said that Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu could have avoided hugging Pakistani army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa during his Islamabad visit as it impacted soldiers back home.
Sitharaman said that when a person of Sidhu’s stature hugs chief of Pakistani army it demoralises people of the country.
"Sidhu has a lot of admirers...somebody of that stature going there and then hugging the chief of the army, an army about which in India we have very clear feelings, it certainly has an impact on soldiers..., it demoralises the people. I wish Sidhu would have avoided it (hug)," Sitharaman said while interacting with the Indian Women's Press Corp (IWPC).
Cricketer-turned politician Sidhu had courted controversy by hugging Pakistan Army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during his visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in of Imran Khan as Prime Minister.
He had claimed that he did so as Bajwa told him that the Pakistan government was working for opening of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims from Indian state of Punjab.
Earlier in the day, Union Minister and Shiromani Akali Dal leader Harsimrat Kaur Badal launched a scathing attack on Navjot Singh Sidhu and asked Congress president Rahul Gandhi whether he was backing a person like him who not only betrayed the country but also played with the sentiments of Sikhs.
"I ask Rahul Gandhi that a minister of your party went to an enemy nation, betrayed our people and played with the sentiments of the Sikhs. Was this all done with your blessings? Will you take action against him or are you hand in glove with him?" Harsimrat Kaur Badal said during a press conference in New Delhi.
Calling Sidhu an 'agent' of Pakistan, she said that the cricketer-turned-politician was being used as a puppet by the neighbouring country.
"I think he is a new agent that Pakistan has found and they are using him as a puppet and he is dancing to their tune," Badal said.
