"I won't get patriotism certificate from you" says Navjot Singh Sidhu to PM Modi invoking 2002 Godhra Riots

In the on-going bitterness over Congress leader, Navjot Singh Sidhu’s visit to Pakistan, Sidhu has retaliated to Prime Minister Modi. 

Addressing the ‘anti-national’ tag, Sidhu questions if the Prime Minister was upset for not being invited. 

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“They will say that you are an anti-national, so I ask the Prime Minister the same thing. Were you upset that you weren't called over there? Or were you upset that you went there uninvited and hugged and kissed? My hug was not a Rafael deal, you sold the army,” he said.

Emphasising on his patriotism, Sidhu said that he will not prove his nationalism to someone who was named in the communal Godhra riots of 2002. 

“In one second, Sidhu did a conspiracy but when Sidhu was with you he was a great man, a nationalist. And what about when he uses to play against Pakistan and hit sixes? You used to clap your hands like a rubber doll. Narendra bhai Modi, Navjot Singh Sidhu won't prove nationalism to someone who was named in Godhra. I won't get patriotism certificate from you. Listen, Narendra bhai Modi, you don't know whose child Navjot Singh Sidhu is”

Back in August a massive row had erupted over Sidhu's infamous hug to Pakistan Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa. Sindhu defended the gesture by claiming his visit was approved by the Party’s President Rahul Gandhi. The Punjab Minister lashed at BJP who criticised his visit saying, “BJP will not decide what I should do.”

“Congress leaders are with me. I am not answerable to the BJP,” said Sidhu. When he was asked whether he had spoken with the Congress President on the matter, Sidhu evaded the question, “I will not tell everything to media as what conversation I had with Rahul Gandhi.”

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A huge controversy erupted soon after Navjot Singh Sidhu’s decision to attend newly installed Pakistan PM Imran Khan’s swearing-in ceremony. His hugging the Pak Army Chief, Bajwa, there added fuel to the raging fire.