New Delhi: A former school teacher and journalist once booked for “inflammatory” writings during the days of the Punjab militancy, and a paediatric surgeon-cum-health activist who has publicly questioned the quality of health infrastructure in the state. Meet Malvinder Singh Mali and Pyare Lal Garg, the two advisers of Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu now courting controversy for their remarks on Kashmir and Pakistan.
While Mali has come under fire for alleging that Jammu & Kashmir has been converted into an “open jail”, he has also been criticised for his Facebook cover photo — a 30-year-old caricature of former PM Indira Gandhi, who oversaw Operation Bluestar in 1984.
Garg, meanwhile, is being condemned for questioning Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh’s criticism of Pakistan.
The two are among four advisers appointed by Sidhu on 11 August.
Their remarks have come as the latest point of conflict between Amarinder and Sidhu, who have been at odds publicly since the run-up to the 2019 Lok Sabha elections. Sidhu’s elevation as state Congress chief in July came despite Amarinder’s objections.
Amarinder has described the advisers’ remarks as atrocious and ill-conceived, asking Sidhu to “rein them in”. Meanwhile, a group of Punjab ministers and MLAs Tuesday called for strong action against the advisers, describing their comments as “patently anti-national and pro-Pakistan”, PTI reported.
The same day, four ministers and several party legislators raised a banner of revolt against Amarinder, saying they do not have “faith” in his ability to honour unfulfilled poll promises.
While Sidhu went into damage control mode after his advisers’ comments, and called both Mali and Garg for a meeting at his residence Monday morning, both have defended their statements.
Whatever I had to say I've said it on social media, & that's final. If anyone makes a mistake, they should reflect.We must continue to work welfare of Punjab: Malvinder S Mali, Punjab Congress Chief Navjot Sidhu's advisor who posted a controversial sketch of late PM Indira Gandhi pic.twitter.com/OUuAsY5s0u
— ANI (@ANI) August 23, 2021
Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu summons both his advisors Malwinder Singh Mali and Dr Pyare Lal Garg to his Patiala residence to discuss their recent comments on Pakistan, Kashmir and the controversial sketch of late PM Indira Gandhi posted by one of them on social media pic.twitter.com/j3jPhmIMOo
— ANI (@ANI) August 23, 2021
Also Read: Navjot Sidhu hit a sixer against the Captain of Punjab Congress. Now he has a seat with Gandhis
Booked on ‘terror charges’
Mali is a social studies teacher-turned-public relations officer who was booked under the National Security Act (NSA) and the now-repealed Terrorist and Disruptive Activities (Prevention) Act (TADA) for “inflammatory” writings in 1993, according to a report in The Indian Express. “He was released on the orders of the high court a month and a half later,” the report adds.
After he retired as a school teacher, he worked as a journalist at the Punjabi Tribune.
His controversial comments on Kashmir were made on social media.
In a post on Facebook on 17 August, Mali said, “Kashmir belongs to Kashmiri people … India and Pakistan have gone against UN’s resolutions by illegally capturing Kashmir.”
He added, “Why after sending millions of soldiers, Jammu and Kashmir has been converted into an open jail?”
Speaking to ThePrint, Akali Dal leader Prem Singh Chandumarja said he had known Mali for over 40 years, since the time the two were student leaders. Even then, he added, “he was a bhavuk (emotional) leader who would say anything”.
“’He was close to Tohra saab (late Akali leader Gurcharan Singh Tohra), yet was never formally part of the Akali Dal. Even as a student leader, he was very emotional,” he added.
Mali served as press secretary to Gurcharan Singh Tohra and was a public relations officer under former CM Parkash Singh Badal, as well as during Amarinder’s earlier tenure as CM from 2002 to 2007.
Now, however, his Facebook profile is replete with potshots at Amarinder. Mali’s latest post, in Gurmukhi, alleges Amarinder is trying to silence him and Garg. In the same post, he seeks to ask the CM why the youth of Punjab “are running abroad and why so many farmers are dying by suicide”.
“Why are Punjabis sitting homeless on Delhi borders?? Why is every category of Punjab doing agitation? Are they all doing this at the signal of Pakistan?” he said.
He also sought to invoke the name of Pakistani journalist Aroosa Alam, who is said to be close to the chief minister.
His cover photo on Facebook is an image of Indira Gandhi holding a gun that has a skull hanging on its muzzle, while she stands over a heap of skulls. The tagline of the image reads, “Every repression is defeated.”
The health activist
Garg is a paediatric surgeon and a health activist who has earlier served as registrar at the Baba Farid University of Health Sciences, Faridkot. Last year, he said the state’s health infrastructure was a factor in keeping specialists away from government postings. “In the past, surgeons have been posted at places where there is no infrastructure to perform surgeries,” he said.
In 2018, he also weighed in on “deteriorating media freedom” when he was invited as a keynote speaker at a conference on ‘Media largely influences democracy, social system’.
An avid public speaker, Garg has spoken about NRC-CAA protests as well as the state of public education in schools.
“Now schools are like 5-star-hotels but education teaches no values. People are becoming engineers and doctors but forgetting humanity,” he was quoted as saying in a 2020 video.
In the same interview, Garg spoke about how he was taught in schools that it was his duty to build the country after attaining independence from the British.
(Edited by Sunanda Ranjan)
Also Read: ‘Atrocious’ — Amarinder slams Sidhu’s advisers over comments on Kashmir & Pakistan