Punjab Cabinet Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu has visited controversy once again during his trip to Pakistan. This time, for sharing frame with pro-khalistani leader Gopal Singh Chawla during the ground-breaking ceremony for the Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan.

The photograph, that went viral on the social media after being shared by Chawla on his Facebook page, has once again shifted the focus on to Sidhu who had earlier embraced controversy after hugging Pak Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa that stirred the hornet’s nest back home in India.

Even as Sidhu maintained that he did not know “who Chawla is”, his rivals in India trained their guns on the former cricketer even before his return to India.

Sidhu was alleged for “putting India to shame again”, besides being used as a “pawn” by the Pak-based ISI for inciting terror in Punjab. However, Sidhu’s partymen has supported the Congress leader citing his “celebrity status”.

Playing down the issue on his return to India, Sidhu said: “They showered love so much there. Every day, 10,000 pictures were clicked. Among them, who is Chawla or Cheema that I do not know.”

Lashing out at Sidhu, SAD had asked Sidhu whether “India is his priority” or not. “There was a link between Gopal Chawla and a terrorist attack that took place in Amritsar (on Nirankari Bhavan), which is his (Sidhu’s) constituency. If he shakes hands with him or do something with him, then Sidhu has to answer in order to clear whether country is his priority or something else,” said SAD president Sukhbir Badal.

Notably, three persons were killed while over 20 were injured in a grenade attack on Nirankari Bhavan in Amritsar on November 18.

“Sidhu should have known that Pakistan has been involved in pushing drugs into Punjab. It is General Bajwa who is behind killing our youth with whom he shakes hands,” said Sukhbir.

Taking a swipe at the Congress national president, Sukhbir said that Rahul Gandhi has a “very good opportunity” to expand his party to Pakistan by making Sidhu the chief of the party’s unit there.

Demanding Sidhu’s expulsion from the Cabinet, SAD national spokesman Manjinder Singh Sirsa said that Congress leader’s activities, in favour of Pakistan, has encouraged ISI and Pakistan to launch anti-India campaign and they are specially targeting Sikhs to incite them against their own country India.

“ISI is using Sidhu’s face who is openly having a hug with the anti-India forces on the land of Pakistan and is vigorously trying to justify his such acts. After showing his closeness with the Pakistan army chief, now pictures of Sidhu have gone viral in which he is seen with Gopal Singh Chawla who is not only a staunch supporters of terrorists like Hafeez Syeed, but also issues his video statements on behalf of Sikhs threatening India,” he said.

Sirsa urged Punjab Chief Minister Capt Amarinder Singh to immediately take action against the Punjab Minister for encouraging anti-India forces at the foreign land where he himself had refused to go due to actions of Pakistan army against the country particularly Punjab and Kashmir. “He should be sacked from the constitutional post without any delay,” he said.

However, Congress leader Raj Kumar Verka slammed the Akali Dal for attacking Sidhu and not taking action against SGOC chief, whose photograph with Chawla has also appeared on social media.

“I feel Sukhbir Badal, the Badal family and BJP is suffering from Sidhu phobia. I think they chant Sidhu’s name more than Baba (Guru) Nanak Dev,” said Verka, adding, “Longowal knows Chawla very well. He knows Chawla is a member of (Pakistan) Gurdwara committee. He also knows Chawla is our country’s enemy. Despite this, Longowal posed with Chawla for a picture. Sidhu even does not know about Chawla”. Verka asked Sukhbir whether he would seek resignation of Longowal as SGPC chief.

 Meanwhile, former chief of Delhi Sikh Gurdwara Management Committee (DSGMC) Paramjit Singh Sarna, who had also gone to Pakistan to attend the ceremony, claimed that Sidhu avoided Chawla many times. “But he (Chawla) managed to get a picture clicked with him,” he added at Attari in Amritsar.

 WHY SO MUCH NOISE?

Chawla, Pakistan Sikh Gurudwara Prabhandak Committee’s (PSGPC) general secretary, was reportedly invited by the Pak Government to attend the ceremony for laying the foundation stone for linking the two neighbouring country by a passage to Kartarpur sahib Gurdwara — the last abode of Sikhs’ first master Guru Nanak Dev.

A known pro-Khalistan voice, Chawla was also seen shaking hands with Pakistan Army chief at the ground-breaking ceremony of Kartarpur corridor in Pakistan on Wednesday.

On his Facebook page, Chawla has not only shared his picture with Sidhu standing next to Sidhu during the latter’s visit to Pakistan, but also with the Shiromani Gurudwara Parbandhak Committee (SGPC) president Gobind Singh Longowal sitting beside him.

Intelligence agencies have all along been maintaining that the efforts are being made to destabilise Punjab’s law and order situation and to revive the fledgling terrorism in the state by swaying Punjabi youngsters. The recent intel inputs talked about a meeting between Chawla and Hafiz Saeed, the chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba — a militant organisation, in Pakistan.

Punjab police sources maintained that Chawla has been using his social media handles to gain supporters in Punjab, and even posting provocative posts from his personal handle.

Moreover, Chawla’s presence in Pakistan comes at a time when Khalistan separatist groups have already strategized and become active to use the route to push terrorism and separatist activities in India.

A US-based separatist organisation, Sikhs for Justice (SFJ), has announced that it would hold ‘Kartarpur Sahib Convention-2019’ in Pakistan for anti-India propaganda in November 2019 during the 550th birth anniversary celebrations of Guru Nanak Dev. The pro-Khalistan outfit has termed the route as a “Bridge to Khalistan”.

CONTROVERSY’S FAVOURITE CHILD: SIDHU

Aggressive cricketer, firebrand politician Navjot Singh Sidhu is not new to controversy. In fact, in the recent time, he has emerged as “controversy’s favourite child”. A look...

• Khalistani leader Chawla shares his photo with Sidhu on his Facebook page
• Sidhu’s offensive remark against Indore’s woman mayor Malini Lakshmansingh Gaur during election campaigning
• Opting to attend his friend Imran Khan’s swearing in by skipping his “one-time mentor” and former Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s funeral
• Sidhu’s hug with Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa
• When Sidhu said that he can relate more with Pakistan than South India during Khushwant Singh Literature Fest in Kasauli
• His decision to continue with TV show after becoming Punjab Cabinet Minister
• 1988 Road Rage Case