Congress leader Navjot Singh Sidhu, who has always been in news for the wrong reasons, has said that people should learn nationalism from UPA chairperson Sonia Gandhi, who is the sitting MP from Rae Bareli.
Sidhu while addressing a rally in Rae Bareli said, “You talk about nationalism? You learn about nationalism from Sonia Gandhi. What nationalism you are talking about. You are a sellout. You are a puppet run by industrialists. You don’t see development Narendra Damodardas Modi, because your intentions are wrong”.
It would bode well to remind people that Sonia Gandhi had reportedly wept inconsolably after the Batla House encounter of terrorists and has presided over the worst scams India has ever seen. In fact, OpIndia had recently investigated that Sonia Gandhi’s Italian family might have been involved in the Bofors scam.
Sidhu, who is giving sermons on Nationalism today, has indulged in hugging and batting for Pakistan on several occasions in since he joined the Congress party. He had absolved Pakistan of all its crimes of terror and said that India and Pakistan both are responsible for tensions between the two countries. He had also appealed to Muslims to unite and vote out PM Narendra Modi.
Placed his bets too soon, Navjot Singh Sidhu further said that he would quit politics if Congress chief Rahul Gandhi lost the ongoing Lok Sabha election from Amethi.
Sidhu refused to believe that BJP’ Smriti Irani, who is standing opposite Rahul Gandhi from Amethi, is a tough competition for the Congress President. He refuted the BJP’ claim that no development work has taken place in the country in the last 70 years. He said that the country made everything from a needle to an aircraft during this period.
On one hand, where the Congress loyalists are busy placing their bets on Rahul Gandhi, Amethi’ citizen’s sentiments speak a different story altogether. The locals of Amethi, Uttar Pradesh have acknowledged and expressed their gratitude for Smriti Irani’s contribution to the town despite losing the elections in 2014. The citizens of Amethi recounted how even after losing the elections, Union Minister Smriti Irani maintained personal contact with the people of the town and ensured that their problems are solved in a speedy and efficient manner.
Perhaps because of Smriti Irani’ increasing popularity in Amethi, the Congress supremo, worried about his fate, has opted to contest from another ‘safe seat’ (Wayanad), which is so because of the Hindu minority in the constituency, so that he can return to Lok Sabha even if he losses Amethi to Smriti Irani.
Moreover, 2014 was also not such a smooth sail for Congress President. Though he had won from Amethi, Smriti Irani had given Rahul Gandhi the jitters. In 2009, Rahul, who had won from Amethi by a whopping margin of 3.70 lakh votes managed to secure merely 1.08 lakh votes extra in 2014.
Amethi as a constituency has been Nehru-Gandhi bastion since the 1980s and in spite of this; today it is no better than a backward district. Smriti’s contributions for the last 4 years, is significantly higher than what the entitled prince and his family have contributed towards Amethi in the last 20 years.
We had in January 2019, published a comprehensive analysis of the development of Amethi until now, comparing 10 years of Rahul Gandhi’ contribution to the constituency to 4 years of Smriti Irani. According to the data gathered from information available in the public domain, in 15 years Rahul has had 12 major achievements whereas in 4 years Smriti has had a staggering 46 achievements.
If we take into consideration the above data and the sentiments of the people of Amethi, we can only conclude that probably Navjot Singh Sidhu, out of his sheer love for the Gandhi’, has placed his bets too soon.
