Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Noting that more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered in the 1971 Indo-Pak War, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday asserted if he had been in power he would have taken Kartapur Sahib from Pakistan before freeing their troops. Addressing a rally at Patiala, his first in the state for the seventh phase of Lok Sabha polls on June 1, Modi said Punjab and the Sikh community have always been at the forefront of national-building efforts, even as he lambasted the current AAP government over issues of corruption and drugs trade.
PM Modi raked up the sensitive subject of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara, which is revered by Sikhs since Guru Nanak Dev spent his final years there. He accused the Congress of being the cause of the nation’s division, claiming they did it for their own political gain. Kartar Sahib is located in Punjab, Pakistan, a short distance from the Indian border. This is where the partition left it. “For 70 years, we could have a ‘darshan’ of the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara only with binoculars,” Modi stated.
In 1971, he claimed, “we had the trump card in our hands” when over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian Army, creating an opportunity to retake the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara. “They (Congress) did not do that, but I did what I could,” Modi said, referring to the Kartapur Sahib Corridor, which opened in 2019 and made it easier for Sikh pilgrims to travel to the shrine.
#WATCH | Patiala, Punjab: Addressing a public rally, PM Modi says, “Congress did the partition of the country in such a way that for 70 years, we had to look at Kartarpur Sahib through binoculars… When the Bangladesh war was fought, more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers had… pic.twitter.com/IohSmC0OX4
— ANI (@ANI) May 23, 2024
Modi, who was campaigning for Preneet Kaur, the wife of former chief minister Amarinder Singh and the BJP’s Lok Sabha candidate from Patiala, said he had come to seek blessings in the land of Gurus “by bowing my head”. Other BJP candidates, including Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Bathinda, Arvind Khanna from Sangrur, Hans Raj Hans from Faridkot, and Gejja Ram Valmiki from Fatehgarh Sahib, were also on stage as Modi spoke, wearing traditional Sikh turbans.
PM said that Punjab has led the country in a variety of sectors, including agriculture and industry. However, the current “fiercely corrupt” Bhagwant Mann government has altered all of that, he added. “Trade and industry are leaving Punjab, while the drug trade expands. “The entire state government is in debt.
The prime minister stated that the government’s authority does not apply here while the sand and drug mafia, as well as shooter gangs, rule. “All ministers are happy, and the ‘kagazi CM’ is constantly marking his presence in the ‘Delhi darbar’. “Can such people bring development to Punjab?” He also criticised the AAP and the Congress for competing in the Lok Sabha elections in Delhi while opposing each other in Punjab.
“In Punjab, they fight each other in elections just to show the people. Delhi’s ‘fiercely corrupt party’ and the party responsible for anti-Sikh riots are staging a fight against each other),” he said.
Modi outlined steps taken by his government to benefit the Sikh community, including a tax exemption on materials used to make ‘langar’ and a relaxation of foreign donation norms for the Golden Temple. He added that his government had declared ‘Veer Baal Diwas’ to commemorate the martyrdom of the tenth Sikh Guru’s sons. He added that his government had brought Sikh families and’saroops’ of Guru Granth Sahib from Afghanistan.
“I have blood relations with you,” Modi said, noting that one of Guru Gobind Singh’s ‘panj pyare’ (five beloved ones) was from Gujarat. He stated that while serving as Gujarat chief minister, he rebuilt a gurdwara where the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev once halted, which had been damaged by an earthquake. “Modi doesn’t do it for votes. “Modi’s head bows before the sacrifices of Sikh Gurus,” he declared.
Continuing his attack on the INDIA bloc, he stated that “they neither have a leader, nor an intent,” and that their main goal is to appease their voter base, whereas the BJP’s mantra is ‘Sabka Sath Sabka Vikas’.