Sidhu sparks row by addressing Pak PM as ‘elder brother’

New Delhi, Nov 20: The Bharatiya Janata Party on Saturday hit out at the Congress after its Punjab unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu reportedly called Pakistan prime minister Imran Khan his ‘elder brother’ during a trip to Kartarpur Sahib, alleging the opposition party sees terror groups like Islamic State and Boko Haram in Hindutva while it finds a ‘bhai jaan’ in Khan.
It is a serious matter of concern for Indians, BJP spokesperson Sambit Patra said as the ruling party seized on the issue to target the Congress. He claimed that there was a larger design at work, and Sidhu’s comments were linked to a number of Congress leaders, including Rahul Gandhi, criticising Hindutva. Referring to Congress leader Salman Khurshid’s statement in his latest book, Patra said the opposition party sees terror groups such as the ISIS and the Boko Haram in Hindutva while it finds a ‘bhai jaan’ in Khan.
It is being done for appeasement politics as the Congress still believes that there is a section in India which will be happy with praise for Pakistan. There are no such people in India though, Patra added.
He noted that Sidhu had praised Khan and Pakistan earlier too and had hugged its army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during an earlier trip to the neighbouring country.
Noting that Punjab is a border state where Pakistan tries to foment troubles, Patra said it needs a mature and patriotic leadership.
Sidhu is not right for India and Punjab deserves better than him, he said.
Pakistan’s foreign minister had recently described Hindutva as a threat to global security, and he had borrowed the term from Rahul Gandhi, the BJP leader alleged.
To a question about Congress leader Priyanka Gandhi writing a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the farmers’ issue, Patra shot back and asked if she also considers Khan an elder brother like Sidhu as she had in the past called the Punjab leader her brother.

‘For India, Imran is ‘cat’s paw’ of Pak deep state’

Taking a swipe at Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sindhu for purportedly calling Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan “bada bhai”, party leader Manish Tewari Saturday said Khan may be anybody’s elder brother but for India he is that “cat’s paw” of the Pakistan deep state that drones arms and narcotics into Punjab and sends terrorists on a daily basis to Jammu and Kashmir.
A video of Sidhu, during a trip to Kartarpur Sahib on Saturday, being welcomed by a Pakistani official on behalf of Khan has gone viral in which the Congress leader is purportedly heard saying Khan was like a “bada bhai” to him and that he loved him a lot.
Taking to Twitter, Tewari tweeted, “@ImranKhanPTI may be anybody’s elder brother but for India he is that cat’s paw of Pak Deep State ISI-Military combine that drones arms & narcotics into Punjab & sends terrorists on a daily basis across LOC in J&K.”
“Have we forgotten martyrdom of our soldiers in Poonch so soon,” the MP from Anandpur Sahib said.
India had recently opened the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, and a number of pilgrims from Punjab, including politicians, have visited the place on the occasion of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak’s birth anniversary.