Stating that more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday said taht had he been in power at the time, he would have taken Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib from Pakistan before freeing their troops.
During partition, Kartarpur Sahib, the place where Guru Nanak Dev spent the last years of his life, fell in Pakistan’s Punjab, just a few kilometres away from the border with India. Raising the emotove issue, Modi blamed the Congress for country’s partition, saying they did it for sake of power.
“For 70 years, we could have a ‘darshan’ of the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara only with binoculars. I tell the Congress that in Bangladesh war, 90,000 Pakistan soldiers had surrendered. Hukam ka ekka hamare hath mei tha (We had the trump card in our hands). Had Modi been there at that time, he would have taken Kartapur Sahib from them and then released their soldiers,” he said.
Modi said that the Congress did not do that. “But I did as much as I could do as service to the Gurus,” he added, referring to the opening of the Kartapur Sahib Corridor in 2019 that made it easier for Sikh pilgrims to travel to the shrine.
Addressing a rally at Patiala in support of BJP candidates, his first in the state for the seventh phase of Lok Sabha polls on June 1, Modi, sporting a Khalsa orange turban, and started his speech in Punjabi.
“Main bda khushkismat han ke mainu Shri Guru Tegh Bahadur ji de paavan charan chhoh sthan atey Shri Kali Mata ji de paavan sthan Patiala toh apne Punjab daure di shuruaat karan da mauka mileya hai (I am fortunate that I got an opportunity to kickstart my campaign for Punjab from the pious land of Guru Tegh Bahadur and Kali Mata),” he said.
In his 30-minute speech, Modi said he had a ‘khoon ka rishtaa’ (blood relation) with Punjab as one of the Panj Piaras of Guru Gobind Singh, the founder of Khalsa, was from Dwarka in Gujarat, his home state.
“If you go to Lakhpat in Kutch, there’s a gurdwara where Guru Nanak took rest. It got damaged in earthquake. I found artisans and got special earth and got constructed the gurdwara as it was. Modi does not do this for votes. Modi’s head bows for the sacrifice of the Sikh Gurus,” he said.
He further said that the announced ‘Veer Baal Diwas’ to mark the martyrdom of the tenth Sikh guru’s sons.
“I decided that Sahibzadas sacrifice should be known all over. But some people do not understand this…I wanted every child should know the sacrifices of the sons of Guru Gobind Singh,” he said while recalling how he had waived off GST on langar at Golden Temple and how his government brought back holy Guru Granth Sahib from Afghanistan honourably alongwith the stranded Sikhs.
Raising the issue of Citizenship (Amendment) Act, he said, Punjab faced the pain of partition. Sikh families were persecuted in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and his government decided to give them citizenship. “It is not for vote bank,” he stated.
Campaigning for Preneet Kaur, the wife of former chief minister Amarinder Singh, who is BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Patiala, Modi said he had come to seek the blessings in the land of Gurus “by bowing my head”.
Other BJP candidates — Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Bathinda, Arvind Khanna from Sangrur, Hans Raj Hans from Faridkot and Gejja Ram Valmiki from the Fatehgarh Sahib seat — were also present on the stage as Modi spoke.
Modi said Punjab and the Sikh community have always been at the forefront of nation-building efforts, even as he lambasted the current AAP government over issues of corruption and drugs trade. Terming Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as a ‘kagazi CM’ — chief minister only on paper, Modi said that trade and industry are leaving Punjab while the drug trade is growing. “The entire state government is running on debt. The government’s writ does not run while sand and drug mafia, and shooter gangs’ rule…All ministers are enjoying and the ‘kagazi CM’ is always busy marking his presence in the ‘Dilli darbar’. Can such people bring development in Punjab?” he asked, while taking a dig at the AAP and the Congress for fighting the Lok Sabha polls together in Delhi and against each other in Punjab.
He added that ongoing Lok Sabha election is for makinbg the country stronger. “On one side it is BJP and NDA and on the other side corrupt leaders of INDIA bloc. They neither have neta nor neeyat. On one side is Modi who wants to make fighter jets in India and on the other hand is INDIA bloc that says that our nuclear arms should be neutralised. On one side is the courage to kill terrorists in their house and on the other there are people who shed tears on terrorists deaths. On one side Modi brought 25 crore people out of poverty, on the other side is INDIA bloc that will snatch half of your land,” Modi said.
He said the INDIA bloc lies to farmers. “They made a promise with farmers but did not fulfill it. It is the BJP which gives priority to the welfare of farmers.” In the last 10 years, there was a record purchase of wheat and paddy from Punjab, he said. “We raised MSP two-and-a-half times in the last 10 years,” he added.
Earlier, security was beefed up in view of the call given by farmer bodies to hold a demonstration against Modi. When PM landed in Patiala, the entire city was witnessing protests from farmers. The police had made foolproof arrangements to ensure that no security breach took place unlike in the past when Modi had to turn back without addressing rally in Ferozepur ahead of 2022 Assembly elections.
The area within one-km radius of the rally venue was sealed for vehicular traffic.
Prime Minister Narendra Modiwith BJP Patiala candidate Preneet Kaur at a rally on Thursday. (Express photo by Harmeet Sodhi) 
Share
