July 1, 2019
New Delhi: Controversial Sikh leader Gopal Singh Chawla has uploaded a photograph of Indian Punjab Minister Navjot Singh Sidhu wearing green Turban with a crescent and star elements that symbolise Islam, on his social media account. In a Facebook post on Sunday, Chawla shared a photograph of Sidhu wearing a green turban and said that the ‘photograph should reach India’. Times Now could not independently verify the authenticity of the image Chawla shared.
Chawla, who, according to his Facebook post is the general secretary of Pakistan Sikh Gurdwara Parpandhak Committee, was in news in June when he raised pro-Khalistan slogans and hurled abuses at ex-PM Indira Gandhi at a rally in Pakistan.
In a rally organised on the 35th anniversary of Operation Blue Star, Chawla had urged that Jarnail Singh Bhindranwale’s sacrifice will not go in vain and claimed that the day is not far when ‘Azad Kashmir’ would become a reality. “We want Khalistan and we the people from the Sikh community also promise that we will free Kashmir as well as our Khalistan,” he had reportedly said.
A controversial figure, Chawla was seen with Sidhu at the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor in November 2018. Sidhu had triggered a massive political row when he went to attend the swearing-in ceremony of the then newly-elected Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan. He was seen hugging Pakistan Army Chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa, a gesture, which was exploited by his political opponents in the run up to the Lok Sabha elections.
He was also pulled up by the state leadership — Punjab CM Captain Amarinder Singh — for his gesture across the border. More recently, he also attended the groundbreaking ceremony of the Kartarpur corridor, where he was seen with Chawla, a Khalistan sympathiser.
Source : timesnew
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