Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Punjab minister and former Indian cricketer Navjot Singh Sidhu set the record straight on his hug with Pakistan’s army chief Qamar Javed Bajwa during his controversial visit to Islamabad. In a candid and characteristic conversation with ThePrint’s Editor-in-Chief Shekhar Gupta and senior associate editor Chitleen K. Sethi at the first OTC in Chandigarh, Sidhu didn’t mince words and kept the audience entertained with his witty ‘Sidhuisms’.

1Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

From left: Shekhar Gupta, editor-in-chief, ThePrint; Chitleen Sethi, senior associate editor, ThePrint; Navjot Singh Sidhu, Punjab minister & former cricketer

2Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

From left: Archana R. Singh, chairperson – School of Communication Studies, Panjab University; Navjot Singh Sidhu; Shekhar Gupta

3Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Rashpal Malhotra, chairman, Centre for Research in Rural & Industrial Development, Chandigarh (C) greets Sidhu.

4Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Rana Nayyar, retired professor, asked the Congress leader about the development of Amritsar.

5Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

The Amritsar MP cracked one of his Sidhuisms to describe the television media. “No news is good news on television, because it will not spare anybody,” he said.

6Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

The audience enjoyed Sidhu’s jokes. “Duniya mein sabse bada rog, ‘mere baare mein kya kahenge log’” (The biggest disease in the world is the fear of people’s opinion about you), he said.

7Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Gaurav Goyal, lawyer, was in the audience and got a chance to ask a question.

8Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

The former cricketer quotes another of his Sidhuisms: “Men of genius are admired, men of power are feared, but men of character are trusted.”

9Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Mukul Verma, director, Savi International, enquired whether Sidhu could help entrepreneurs in the Punjab sports industry.

10Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

From left: Pawan Kumar Bansal, former railways minister of India; Maneesh Chhibber, editor (Investigations & Special Projects), ThePrint

11Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Vipin Pubby, former resident editor, Indian Express, posed a question to the former cricketer.

12Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

It was a packed hall at The Lalit hotel in Chandigarh.

13Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

From left: Shekhar Gupta; Amarinder Brar, principal – client relations, IIFL Wealth Management; Navjot Singh Sidhu

14Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Navjot Singh Sidhu with members of ThePrint team

15Off The Cuff with Navjot Singh Sidhu

Sidhu’s admirers flocked the celebrity after the event.