New Delhi: From being an extremely shy student in school, Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) leader Navjot Singh Sidhu is today a much sought after person. Capable of holding fort single-handedly, he can leave the audience spellbound with his knowledge as much as his humour.
Cricketer, commentator, television celebrity and now a politician, he says: "In class, whenever my teacher made an announcement about a declamation contest and asked me to participate, I would skip school for the next few days." Giving the entire credit for his showmanship to his upbringing and the moral values that his family inculcated in him, the suave Sikh, known for his one-liners termed Sidhuisms, says, "There cannot be fruit without the root."
In an exclusive interview with Gulf News, Sidhu, the three-time MP from Amritsar in Punjab, spoke with the courage and conviction that is now his trademark.
GULF NEWS: A group of Congress Party leaders in Amritsar recently lodged an online complaint about your going ‘missing' from the constituency.
NAVJOT SINGH SIDHU: I believe that there are two important things in life — one to make a name, the other to sustain it. When you are a first-time MP, you make a name. The second time you sustain it. But the third time you cannot become an MP if you have been missing from your constituency. You can only win because of your hard work. Politics is my mission, not my profession.
The high court has asked for your reply to the election petition filed against your victory in the recent Lok Sabha elections. Your rival, O.P. Soni of the Congress, says you manipulated the counting.
He has won three assembly elections consecutively and my sympathies are with him. But let the court decide. I am criticised because I am good and important. As they say, only the tree laden with fruit is pelted with stones.
You are accused of speaking a lot, but in Parliament seem to believe in the adage, ‘silence is golden'.
This isn't true. Get your facts right and then distort them! The job of the people is to spread such stories. But the fact is that the highest number of questions asked by any MP from Punjab are mine. The highest number of ‘call attention motions' in the history of independent India and Punjab are also mine.
You vowed to change the face of Amritsar in 2004. Tell us about some major changes you have brought in?
I can relate more than a dozen changes. These include the Amritsar Municipal Corporation, which has become the first in the state to implement the Solid Waste Management Project. The four-laning of the Jalandhar-Amritsar section of National Highway 1 is another prestigious project. In fact, about 60km stretch had been on hold for a long time. I took up the matter, which was in the court. It was found that the contractor to whom the job was assigned for the first 10km stretch, had not fulfilled his responsibility, so the matter was kept hanging. But I insisted that at least the rest of the road should be completed and wrote to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, Congress President Sonia Gandhi and several other persons concerned. The matter was discussed in Parliament and soon work began.
Another project was a Rs1.7-billion [Dh141.67 million] road project. Amritsar, visited by about 150,000 people daily had roads full of potholes. The number of visitors to Amritsar is much higher than people visiting the Taj Mahal in Agra. For Sikhs Amritsar is the spiritual and cultural capital that also showcases India and can become an advertisement for Punjab's development. This project was implemented and just about 20 per cent work remains.
Why do many MP's fail to spend the funds given to them by the government for constituency development work?
I am one of those MPs who apart from the MPLADs (Member of Parliament Local Area Development Division) funds, has spent Rs20 million from my own pocket for greening Amritsar and initiated the ‘Go Green' campaign. There are several other development works also happening in the city.
So you have a magic wand for your constituency?
No, I do not possess any such thing. I just believe in doing good work without compromising and following the path of truth. That is the reason why I have been alive and kicking for the last many years in cricket, TV and politics. All this has come to me after slogging and sweating. A sleeping lion cannot expect the deer to come to him and become his prey.
What is the status of the road rage case you got into? [Sidhu had allegedly assaulted a 65-year-old man, Gurnam Singh, in 1988 over a petty dispute over parking vehicles in Patiala. Singh subsequently succumbed to his injuries).
The case is in the Supreme Court. When the case came up in the court and I was convicted in 2006, I resigned from the Lok Sabha seat immediately. As is the done thing in politics, people said I should let my wife contest, but I refused. The court set aside that sentence, stayed conviction and allowed me to fight the elections. I was given a moral character certificate, which hasn't been issued to even film star Sanjay Dutt and many others. In the 67 years of Indian history, the court has not given any such stay. It said that I could have remained an MP and not resigned. But when I had, I should be given the right to go to the people and ask for their mandate. I did and won.
It is said that it became easier to give you the Lok Sabha ticket because of this qualification, as Indian politics thrives on scandals and court cases.
People have malicious intentions and make false cases against each other. Such things do not matter, but being sentenced in a case does. After all, character is not made during a crisis. It is only exhibited then.
Have you learnt any lessons in politics from celebrities-turned-politicians? Or are you now in a position to give them a lesson or two?
I will only say what is written in trains' coaches in India — All passengers are responsible for their own goods!
Who are your role models in politics?
Mahatma Gandhi, Atal Bihari Vajpayee, Lal Krishna Advani and Arun Jaitley. I also admire Rahul Gandhi for the respect he has earned by the way he conducts himself in Parliament. We must understand that the cause for all of us is India. And we need to unite in matters such as terrorism and fight against it.
The BJP is presently in a bad shape. Do you agree with senior leaders who say the party needs a ‘surgery' to become healthy and fit again?
I am a soldier and soldiers do not question their seniors. They fight the war.
What are your future plans?
Life is what happens when you are making other plans. I remember one day I was sitting and commentating on cricket with Imran Khan in Pakistan and next was in politics having won the Lok Sabha elections. So, nothing can be predicted.
Like other politicians, do you plan to write a book?
Politics is not a bad profession to follow. If you succeed, there are rewards. If you fail, write a book!
Chequered career
- Navjot Singh Sidhu was born in Patiala on October 20, 1963 to Nirmal and Bhagwant Singh Sidhu.
- Studied at Yadavindra Public School and graduated from Mahindra College, Patiala.
- Law from University of Punjab.
- As a cricketer, played over 50 Test matches and 100 ODIs, hitting 27 centuries - 1983-99.
- Became a cricket commentator for NIMBUS, followed by ESPN-Star and Ten Sports - 2001.
- Fought and won the Lok Sabha elections on a BJP ticket - 2004.
- Appeared as a cricket announcer in the Hindi film Mujhse Shaadi Karogi - 2004.
- Resigned from the Lok Sabha after his conviction for culpable homicide following a road rage incident - 2006.
- After the Supreme Court stayed his conviction, re-contested the election and won - 2007.
- Appears as a cricket analyst on various Indian TV channels.
- Became a judge in a TV programme The Great Indian Laughter Challenge.
- Won the Lok Sabha Elections - 2009.
