Chandigarh: Malvinder Singh Mali quit as Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu’s adviser today, day after the party threatened to dismiss him over his controversial remarks if Mr Sidhu did not remove him.
In Facebook posts last week, Mr Mali suggested that both India and Pakistan were illegal occupants in Kashmir. In another post, he wrote on the Taliban: “Now it’s their responsibility to guard Sikhs and Hindus. they’re going to rule to enhance the condition of the country, not like before.”
Mr Mali blamed anti-Sikh forces for targeting him and derailing the Punjab model, citing them as reasons for his quitting as adviser to Mr Sidhu.
“Punjab, Punjabi Community cooperation, and anti-Sikh forces, that don’t tolerate the emerging Punjab model… have a nefarious design to derail the dialogue that has started taking shape and to push me to leap into the struggle with tied hands, which isn’t acceptable to me and rejecting an equivalent I humbly submit that I withdraw my consent given for tendering suggestions to Navjot Singh Sidhu,” Mr Mali said during a statement on Facebook.
Putting a lid on the controversy, Congress Punjab in-charge Harish Rawat said the remarks are disowned by the adviser and therefore the matter ends there.
“I will meet Rahul ji tomorrow…He (Navjot Singh Sidhu’s adviser) has disowned his remark on Pakistan and Kashmir, therefore the matter ends there,” said Harish Rawat.
Calling the established politics of Punjab “by and enormous barren of intellect”, Mr Mali said he will continue his relentless struggle against the politics “laden with narrow personal interests”.
The former adviser said Chief Minister Amarinder Singh, party MP Manish Tiwari, SAD’s Sukhbir Badal, AAP’s Raghav Chadha were to be blamed if he faces any physical harm.
“The hateful campaign launched against my ideas by political leaders, and therefore the same if leads to physical harm to me, for an equivalent Captain Amarinder Singh, Vijay Inder Singla, Manish Tewari, Sukhbir Badal, Bikram Majithia, BJP secretary Subhash Sharma, AAP leaders from Delhi Raghav Chadha and Jarnail Singh, shall be responsible,” he continued.
On Sunday, Amarinder Singh mounted a robust public attack at Mr Sidhu’s advisers over comments that he said were “potentially dangerous” to the peace and stability of Punjab and therefore the refore the country and “totally misplaced and antagonistic” to the stated position of India and the Congress on Pakistan and Kashmir. Expressing shock, he urged Mr Sidhu to rein in his advisers before they ended up doing more damage to India’s interests Pyare Lal Garg, another adviser, had questioned Amarinder Singh’s criticism of Pakistan.
The remarks threatened to derail the delicate peace brokered between the Chief Minister and Navjot Sidhu before the state elections early next year.
Navjot Sidhu on August 11 had appointed Malvinder Singh Mali, a former government teacher and political analyst, and Pyare Lal Garg, a former registrar of Baba Farid University of Health and Sciences, as his advisers to hunt their “wise counsel”.
