September 18, 2018
She asserted that the Punjab minister could have “avoided it”.
On Tuesday, Defence minister Nirmala Sitharaman said that Navjot Singh Sidhu’s gesture of hugging Pakistan’s Army Chief impacted soldiers back home & asserted that the Punjab minister could've “avoided it”.
Cricketer-turned politician Sidhu had courted controversy by hugging Pakistan Army Chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during his visit to Pakistan for the swearing-in of Imran Khan as Prime Minister.
He had claimed that he did so as Bajwa told him that the Pakistan govt was working for opening of the Kartarpur corridor for Sikh pilgrims from Indian state of Punjab.
“Sidhu has a lot of admirers... somebody of that stature going there & then hugging the chief of the army, an army about which in India we have very clear feelings, it certainly has an impact on soldiers.., it demoralizes the people. I wish Sidhu would've avoided it(hug),” she said during an interaction at the Indian Women’s Press Corp (IWPC).
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