When in full flow, Navjot Singh Sidhu can pass off utter nonsense as a joke. It suited the cricketer-turned-politician when he was a “judge” on Kapil Sharma’s comedy show where people laughed at anything. But as a politician, Sidhu’s nonsense can land him in trouble ahead of the Assembly elections in Punjab. On Monday, Sidhu shared some samples of his nonsense jokes while talking about his previous party, the BJP, and praising his new — the Congress.
Sidhu compared BJP with mythological character “Kaikeyi” of Ramayana and its alliance partner in the state, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), with another mythological character “Manthara” who had instigated Kaikeyi against Lord Ram. By Sidhu’s analogy, he is back to “Kaushalya”, Lord Ram’s mother. Incidentally, in the eyes of Lord Ram, Kaikeyi was also his mother and he treated her just like that, even as she was misled by Manthara for a period of time.
By invoking Ramayana, does Sidhu want to suggest he is Lord Ram of Punjab politics out to “save” the state? Certainly, he is not and what he said today was just one of the many nonsense jokes, the leader keeps on sharing whenever he gets a chance to speak.
#WATCH: Na kamaani na pahiya, gaadi jote mera Sukhbir(Badal) bhaiya, says Navjot Singh Sidhu pic.twitter.com/F4Ob6DTYLA
— ANI (@ANI_news) January 16, 2017
Sidhu’s motormouth has put him in trouble in past also. In 2011, Sidhu landed in trouble after making “insulting” remarks against Bangladeshi cricketers. One of the Bangladeshi fans even wrote to ICC for action against Sidhu for his “racist” remarks in which he had compared Bangladeshi players with “cockroaches” and the West Indians with “birds.”
Sidhu may not have intended to hurt the Bangladeshis deliberately, but the way he speaks, he doesn’t seem to know where his words would take him. If nothing else, Sidhu may end up as a self-scoring politician who doesn’t mean what he says. Congress’ vice-president Rahul Gandhi has already set an example in this regard by attacking Prime Minister Narendra Modi on false charges recently.
On Tuesday, Sidhu also stopped short of suggesting that he wanted the BJP to fight alone under his leadership but the party continued with the alliance. “BJP chose alliance. Sidhu chose Punjab,” he said during a press conference.
