{"id":301635,"date":"2018-08-20T10:28:00","date_gmt":"2018-08-20T10:28:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/tehelka.com\/?p=301635"},"modified":"2018-08-20T10:28:00","modified_gmt":"2018-08-20T10:28:00","slug":"navjots-huglomacy-after-amarinder-its-shiv-sena-to-hit-at-sidhu","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/navjots-huglomacy-after-amarinder-its-shiv-sena-to-hit-at-sidhu\/","title":{"rendered":"Navjot\u2019s Huglomacy: After Amarinder, its Shiv Sena to hit at Sidhu"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"After Capt Amarinder, it\u2019s Shiv Sena to hit at Sidhu for visiting Pakistan and hugging its Army chief, dubbing it as “heights of shamelessness”.<\/span><\/p>\n

It also took a dig at the BJP, saying Sidhu was not labelled a traitor, even though people were termed “anti-national” for opposing demonetisation and criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi.<\/span><\/p>\n

The cricketer-turned-politician was among the special guests present on Saturday at Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan’s oath taking ceremony.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Shiv Sena claimed Sidhu’s act was a “height of shamelessness” as he hugged the Pakistan Army chief who was supporting insurgency in Kashmir.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Nobody called Sidhu a traitor despite his visit to Pakistan amid opposition and the situation (in Jammu and Kashmir), but there are some people who are easily labelled as anti-national for opposing note ban or criticising Modi,” it said in an editorial in party mouthpiece ‘Saamana’.<\/span><\/p>\n

Earlier, PM Modi had hugged the then Pakistan prime minister Nawaz Sharif and it was called his “masterstroke”, it said, adding, “then how can we criticise Sidhu alone”.<\/span><\/p>\n

Though Sidhu was now with the Congress, he had been with the BJP for a long time and “the BJP should introspect where exactly its ‘sanskar’ (teachings) fell short”, it said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“The prime minister is known for taking strong steps, and he could have simply issued a similar ban against those who wished to visit Pakistan,” the editorial said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Cricket legends Sunil Gavaskar and Kapil Dev refused the invitation to attend Khan’s swearing-in, but Sidhu went there “jumping like a frog and exposed his fake patriotism”, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party claimed.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sena said if the Punjab minister had so much affection for Pakistan, he should contest election from there.<\/span><\/p>\n

“He has already received an offer from a member of Parliament of the Pakistan-Tehreek-i-Insaaf (Khan’s party) to contest election from there,” the Sena claimed.<\/span><\/p>\n

Lashing out at Imran Khan, the Sena said it was he who created an atmosphere of “dharmayudh” (holy war) during \u00a0India-Pakistan cricket matches and delivered several venomous speeches against India.<\/span><\/p>\n

The Sena claimed his elevation to the Pakistan’s post post was going to increase India’s “headache”.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Who is going to benefit from Imran’s elevation? He is just a mask, it is the Pakistan Army that is going to be in power. Then (in that context), Sidhu hugging its Army chief is a crime,” it said.<\/span><\/p>\n

The party wondered what action would Congress president Rahul Gandhi take against his party leader and claimed during Khan’s swearing-in ceremony, it looked like Sindhu was not a guest, but host of the event.<\/span><\/p>\n

Even if Sidhu had not gone there, the ceremony would have still taken place, it said. “His actions are weakening Rahul Gandhi’s position,” the Marathi daily said.<\/span><\/p>\n

“Had Sidhu been a true patriot, he would not have gone to Pakistan and certainly would not have hugged that country’s army chief,” it said.<\/span><\/p>\n

Congress leaders such as Shashi Tharoor and Mani Shankar Aiyar speak something irrationally and put Rahul Gandhi into trouble, and Sidhu did the same thing, the Sena said.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

After Capt Amarinder, it\u2019s Shiv Sena to hit at Sidhu for visiting Pakistan and hugging its Army chief, dubbing it as “heights of shamelessness”. It also took a dig at the BJP, saying Sidhu was not labelled a traitor, even though people were termed “anti-national” for opposing demonetisation and criticising Prime Minister Narendra Modi. The […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":55,"featured_media":301499,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[2009,2913,2014],"tags":[2602,3867,1516,48,513],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301635"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/users\/55"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=301635"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301635\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":301636,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/posts\/301635\/revisions\/301636"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media\/301499"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=301635"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=301635"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/tehelka.com\/rest-api\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=301635"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}