“My remarks are not anti-national”: adviser to Navjot Singh Sidhu amid criticism of Kashmir comments

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Malvinder S Mali, adviser to Navjot Singh Sidhu | Photo credit: ANI

Chandigarh: The advisor to the leader of the Punjab Congress, Navjot Singh Sidhu, Malvinder S Mali, who has come under heavy criticism for his remarks on Kashmir and a controversial sketch by former Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, maintained his comments and refused to apologize.

“My words are not anti-national. I am the same person who was advisor to two chief ministers … they are not new, they have been old since 1989. After 1989, I was appointed media advisor to Amarinder Singh and worked with (Parkash Singh) Badal ji too. The Punjab problem will not be solved by Pakistan or the Taliban. The focus should be on the Punjab agenda, ”he told Times Now, when asked about his remarks.

“Everything I had to say, I said it on social media, and it’s final. If someone makes a mistake, they have to think it over. We must continue to work for the well-being of Punjab, ”Mali told ANI.

In a recent social media post, Mali said India and Pakistan illegally usurped Kashmir. “Kashmir belongs to Kashmiris… If Kashmir was part of India, then what was the need to have Articles 370 and 35-A? He wrote on Facebook.

He had also published in June a sketch of Indira Gandhi showing her standing near a pile of human skulls, holding a gun with a skull hanging from her muzzle.

Another Sidhu adviser, Pyare Lal Garg, also faced anger for questioning Chief Minister Amarinder Singh’s criticism of Pakistan.

The two were summoned by Sidhu to his residence in Patiala earlier today, a day after the chief minister strongly objected to their remarks on “sensitive national issues” such as Kashmir and Pakistan.

“Today we spoke to Sidhu ji about state development issues. When a government does a good job we appreciate it, if it does a bad job we criticize it as well, ”Garg said after the meeting.

In a press release, the chief minister called the words of Sidhu’s advisers “atrocious and ill-conceived” comments that were potentially dangerous to the peace and stability of the state and the country.

The Punjabic CM also asked Sidhu to “restrict” his advisers, who he said should stick to giving advice to the PPCC president and not talking about issues “of which they clearly had little or no knowledge. and had no understanding of the implications of their comments. “

On August 11, Sidhu had appointed Mali, a former government teacher and political analyst, and Garg, a former registrar of the Baba Farid University of Health and Science, as his advisers to seek their wise advice.

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