Those in public life must speak 'in sync' with people's sentiments: Cong on Sidhu row

Amid a political row over Punjab minister Navjot Singh Sidhu's remarks in the aftermath of the Pulwama terror attack, the Congress on Monday said those in public life should speak and act "totally in sync" with the people's sentiments.

Sidhu came under fire for his remarks wherein he asked whether an entire nation could be blamed "for a handful of people".

Forty Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed when a Jaish-e-Mohammed suicide bomber rammed a vehicle carrying over 100 kg of explosives into their bus in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district last week.

Responding to a question on the controversy over Sidhu's remarks, Congress spokesperson Abhishek Manu Singhvi said: "There is of course complete freedom of speech in this country, but everybody especially in public life, a 'karyakarta' or otherwise, owes it to himself and to the nation to speak, act, express, totally in sync with and in keeping with the public sentiment."