Patiala. Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Thursday, referring to the 1971 India-Pakistan war, said that if he had been in power at that time, he would have taken back Kartarpur Sahib from the neighboring country before freeing more than 90,000 surrendered Pakistani soldiers.
Addressing a rally in Patiala, Modi said that Punjab and the Sikh community have always been at the forefront of nation building efforts. He also took on the current Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government on the issues of corruption and drug trade and termed Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann as only a ‘paper CM’. Modi raised the emotive issue of Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara and held Congress responsible for the partition of the country and said it had done so for power.
After partition, Kartarpur Sahib went to the Punjab part of Pakistan. It is located a few kilometers away from the border with India. Modi said, “For 70 years we could see the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara only through binoculars.” He said that the opportunity to take back the Kartarpur Sahib Gurudwara was found in 1971, when more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered to the Indian Army.
He described this opportunity as a ‘trump card’ in India’s hand and said, “If Modi was there at that time, I would have taken Kartarpur Sahib from them and then freed their soldiers.” Modi said, “They (Congress) did not do this but I did as much as I could.” Referring to the opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor in 2019, he said that this made it easier for Sikh devotees to visit the gurdwara.
Campaigning for BJP’s Patiala Lok Sabha candidate Preneet Kaur, wife of former chief minister Amarinder Singh, Modi said he had come to the land of Gurus to seek blessings by “bowing his head”. Modi, wearing a traditional Sikh turban, was present on the stage when other BJP candidates – Parampal Kaur Sidhu from Bathinda, Arvind Khanna from Sangrur, Hansraj Hans from Faridkot and Geza Ram Valmiki from Fatehgarh Sahib – were also present on the stage. Modi said Punjab has led the country in various sectors from agriculture to industry. But the current “horribly corrupt” Bhagwant Mann government has changed all this, he said.
He said, “Businesses and industries are leaving Punjab while drug trade is increasing. The entire state government is drowned in debt.” The Prime Minister said that the orders of the state government do not prevail here, rather the rule of sand, drug mafia and shooter gangs prevail. He said, “All the ministers are having fun and the paper chief minister is always busy registering his presence in the Delhi court. Can such people bring development in Punjab?” He also targeted AAP and Congress for fighting the Lok Sabha elections together in Delhi and against each other in Punjab.
He said, “In Punjab they are fighting against each other in the elections just to show off to the people. The deeply corrupt party of Delhi and the party guilty of anti-Sikh riots are pretending to fight against each other here.” He said, “But the truth is that the paw (Congress’s election symbol) and the broom (AAP’s election symbol) are two organisations, but the shop is the same. Here they can give any statement (against each other), but in Delhi both are dancing together. Therefore, I urge the people of Punjab to be cautious of them.” He said the party which ‘betrayed’ its guru Anna Hazare and lies 10 times a day can never do any good to Punjab or its children.
Modi mentioned the steps taken by his government for the benefit of the Sikh community and said that his own government had announced ‘Veer Bal Diwas’ to commemorate the martyrdom of the sons of the tenth Sikh Guru. He said, “But some people do not understand what it means to declare ‘Veer Bal Diwas’. I feel sad that there are some people who do not understand this. I want every child to know the sacrifice of Guru Gobind Singh’s sons.” He said that one of the ‘Panj Pyare’ of Guru Govind Singh belonged to Gujarat. He said that when he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, he rebuilt the gurdwara where the first Sikh Guru Nanak Dev had once stayed and which was damaged in an earthquake.
He said, “Modi does not do this for votes. Modi bows before the sacrifice of Sikh Gurus.” Continuing his attack on the ‘India’ alliance, he said that ‘they have neither any leader nor any intention’ and their biggest objective is to appease their vote bank, whereas the BJP’s mantra is ‘Sabka Saath Sabka Vikas’ .
Criticising the Congress for opposing the amended citizenship law, Modi said Sikh families were persecuted in countries like Pakistan, Bangladesh and his government decided to give them citizenship. “This is not for vote bank,” he said. “The ‘India’ alliance lies to farmers. They made promises to farmers but did not fulfil them. It is only the BJP which gives priority to the welfare of farmers,” he said. He said Punjab has seen record purchase of wheat and paddy in the last 10 years. “We have increased the MSP by two and a half times in the last 10 years,” he said. Security was beefed up in and around the rally venue in view of the call by farmers’ organisations to protest against Modi.