Reacting strongly to the "irresponsible statement" of Amarinder about Canadian Defence Minister Harjit Singh Sajjan, he said, "Amarinder should not have let a personal incident cloud his judgement and he should have refrained from making disparaging remarks against Sajjan as well as all other Punjabi representatives in the Canadian parliament."
Punjabis worldwide were proud of their elected representatives in Canada and Sajjan was an example of personal accomplishment for the entire Punjabi diaspora, Sukhbir added.
Describing such stands as "counter-productive", he warned that it would not augur well for Punjab and come in the way of trade and bilateral relations with Canada.
"Moreover, it is not in the fitness of things for senior political leaders to show such rancour. One can take a lesson from Prime Minister Narendra Modi. He was denied visa by the US, but that did not make him bitter towards that country. In fact, he has gone out of the way to improve the relations between India and the US," said Sukhbir.
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If the Centre and the other states are giving due respect to Sajjan, so should Amarinder and the Punjab government, the Akali leader said.
"This is the least that is expected of them, considering Sajjan is from their state," he added.
Sukhbir also mentioned how the previous SAD-BJP government in Punjab had witnessed a number of visits by Punjabi ministers from Canada.
"We had always accorded due respect to visiting dignitaries and even invited elected Punjabi representatives from around the world to the NRI sammelans to focus on the issues of NRIs and find solutions," he said.
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