With public comments on wives to marriages, Punjab politics has turned ugly with Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann and Opposition leaders trading personal comments against each other.
While a remark was made by Navjot Singh Sidhu about Mann’s “second marriage” after becoming the Chief Minister, the latter hit back by publicly stating that the former Punjab Congress chief (Sidhu) was the son of his father’s second wife.
It all began after Sidhu during an all-party meeting in Jalandhar on 1 June took a potshot at the Punjab CM stating the only ‘badlaav’ (change) he has brought is his second wife.
Mann tied the knot with Gurpreet Kaur, a doctor, in July 2022, six years after divorce from his first wife.
The Punjab CM hit back at this remark at a gathering after the inauguration of a new hospital on Thursday saying Sidhu is the son of a second wife.
“If your father had not brought about this change at your home, then you would not have been born,” he said.
Going a step further, Mann said Sidhu was like a suit gifted during weddings which nobody wants to unpack and it keeps getting passed on as a gift.
Mann said that because of the dearth of issues against the state government, Opposition leaders “are stooping too low by leveling personal allegations against him.”
Further responding to the comments made by the Leader of Opposition and Congress leader, Partap Singh Bajwa regarding Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) legislators getting married in large numbers after the party came to power in Punjab, Mann said, “What can we do if our MLAs are as young as 25, 26 years ?”
Responding to the CM’s comment about Sidhu’s father, the Congress leader’s wife Dr Navjot Kaur took to Twitter and countered the claim made by Mann about her husband.
“CM, Bhagwant Mann ji, I don’t think Navjot has commented seriously about your personal life because we have absolutely no right to talk about it. But you have got some facts wrong. Navjot Sidhu’s father, (Advocate General Punjab) Mr Bhagwant Singh Sidhu had only one marriage,” she said in a tweet.
On his part, Sidhu too hit back at the CM on Thursday by accusing the CM of diverting attention and running away from key issues concerning Punjab and stooping “to this level with your moral values at their lowest ebb.
Sidhu clarified his father “only married once at the age of 40” to his mother who married twice when she already had two daughters from the first marriage. “IF YOU CANNOT RESPECT THE LIVING, LEARN TO RESPECT THE DEAD,” Sidhu said in the tweet.
Amidst this war of words, some Punjab politicians are advising the against personal attacks.
“It’s high time this personal mudslinging involving families stops and the welfare of Punjab is prioritised … Let’s contribute to elevating the level of politics instead of stooping it down,” Congress’ Lok Sabha member from Ludhiana Ravneet Singh Bittu said in a tweet.
Shiromani Akali Dal leader Dr Daljit Singh Cheema said “instead of using bad language towards the opponents, the CM should respond with seriousness to the issues raised by the Opposition parties.”