A butt of jokes for his bizarre ideas such as launching amphibian buses in Punjab rivers, Deputy Chief Minister Sukhbir Badal on Tuesday candidly admitted that people call him a “gappi” (a chatterbox) and that Punjab could not become California even in 10 years. But that does not stop him from reaching for the stars, with or without his feet on the ground.
In an apparent justification for his out of the ordinary ideas, Sukhbir via a social networking website Facebook made it clear that he would not give up and keep marching “towards a progressive Punjab”. Giving good reason for his farsightedness for Punjab, Sukhbir did not even hesitate to draw a parallel between him and national martyr Bhagat Singh.
“Bhagat Singh dreamt of a socialist republic called Free India and people laughed at the youngster. He didn’t give up. Nor will I. let us march towards a progressive Punjab,” read Sukhbir’s post on his official Facebook page.
Sukhbir has been in the eye of storm for his “dreams” and bizarre ideas with not only the social media, but his political opponents questioning his “weird” announcements or claims.
Punjab Congress chief Partap Singh Bajwa had, in the recent past, minced no words to ask Sukhbir to undergo a dope test, or a psychiatric treatment for his claims of introducing buses which would run both on road and on water.
Describing himself as a “sculptor by nature”, Sukhbir said: “I love to build. Build bridges, roads, buildings, projects, schemes, lives, dreams. Build bridges between people, between dream and reality, between seed and crop, between hunger and roti (bread).”
He added, “They say I am gappi. I just talk about dreams. I live in dreams. Yes I dream. I dream of reaching the stars… Because if I don’t dream of reaching the stars then I can’t even reach the roof of a skyscraper.”
“Yes, I want Punjab to be like California. I know it cannot be done in one day, one year or even ten years. But I am sowing seeds. If I can keep nurturing the seeds of my dreams then one day they will bear real fruits. May be long after I am gone from this world. But till then I will sow the seeds and keep nurturing the dreams. One day the Punjab of my dreams will rise for the whole world to see,” his post read.