Punjab cabinet minister Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday stirred up a fresh controversy after he referred to a greater shared cultural affinity with Pakistan than with India’s southern states.

“When I go to Tamil Nadu I don’t understand the language, there’s only one or two words that I can.. not that I don’t like the food but still I can’t have it for long time, the culture is totally different,” Mr. Sidhu said during an interaction at the ‘’Khushwant Singh Literature Fest’’ in Kasauli. “But if I go to Pakistan, the language is the same, like you know, when you abuse 10 times in English but one abuse in Punjabi overpowers all.”

Terming Mr. Sidhu’s comment an ‘insult to the nation’, the Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) urged Punjab Chief Minister Capt. Amarinder Singh to sack him from the cabinet for making such statements compromising the very spirit of the Indian nation.

“Mr. Sidhu has become a self styled spokesman and ambassador of Pakistani prime minister Imran Khan and has been praising him and Pakistan, forgetting that unity in diversity is the core value of India, where people speaking different languages, living in diverse cultures and different regions and climates share the feeling of one nation and one people,” said SAD leader Mahesh Inder Singh Grewal.

The seventh Khushwant Singh Literature Fest began on Friday in Himachal Pradesh’s Kasauli town.

Mr. Sidhu was earlier embroiled in a controversy in the wake of his visit to Pakistan after he had exchanged a hug with Pakistan’s Army chief General Qamar Javed Bajwa during the swearing-in ceremony of Prime Minister Imran Khan.