Navjot Singh Sidhu is like a monkey, says Sukhbir Singh Badal in attack over 'Virasat-e-Khalsa'

Days after targeting former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi over 1984 anti-Sikh riots, former Punjab deputy chief minister Sukhbir Singh Badal on Wednesday attacked cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu, who parted ways with the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to join the Congress ahead of last assembly elections in Punjab.

Making the attack a personal one, Badal said that Sidhu “is like a monkey”, accusing the Congress leader of insulting Sikh memorials. “This minister Navjot Singh Sidhu, who is like a monkey, has insulted the Sikh memorials we built by calling them white elephants,” he said.

“Does he mean 'Virasat-e-Khalsa' which salutes Sikh history is a white elephant?” the Akali Dal leader added.

Local media reports quoted Badal as saying that Sidhu’s statement was unacceptable as Virasat-e-Khalsa was a “repository of Sikh history, religion and culture”. He further raised strong objection to the ruling Congress government allegedly making it a commercial entity. “Let it be a people’s museum as conceived by Badal Sahab,” he added.

This comes almost a fortnight after Badal targeted former PM Rajiv Gandhi citing a statement by Union minister and Congress leader Jagdish Tytler in connection with the 1984 anti-Sikh riots. The Akali Dal leader alleged that the then prime minister was “supervising the killings”.

“Jagdish Tytler has revealed that Rajiv Gandhi travelled with him across the city in 1984. It means that the then PM was supervising the killings,” said Badal.

He further said that the Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI) must look into the information revealed by Tytler as it is a “very serious issue”.

Media reports had quoted Tytler as saying that former prime minister Rajiv Gandhi had gone to different parts of Delhi while the riots were on and was angry with MPs from the Congress party as they were told by the party high command to contain the situation.