Chandigarh: Claiming that he had a “blood relation” with the people of Punjab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said Thursday he would have reclaimed Kartarpur Sahib in return for the release of 90,000 Pakistani soldiers captured during the Bangladesh war, if he was in power in 1971.
Sporting a ‘kesari pagri (saffron turban)’, Modi accused the Congress party of dividing the nation for its hunger for power.
“For 70 years, the people of Punjab could get only a glimpse of the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara (in Pakistan) through telescopes. It was humiliating for everyone,” Modi said in his first election rally at Patiala before Punjab votes on 1 June.
“When the Bangladesh war ended more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered and were in India’s captivity. We had the ‘hukam ka patta (bargaining power)’. Had Modi been there then, I would have taken Kartarpur from them (Pakistan) and only then returned their soldiers.”
“Since that cannot be done, I have served this land of the Gurus in the manner I could and opened the Kartarpur corridor that devotees are able to visit with pride,” he said.
The Kartarpur corridor is a 4.7-km-long drivable passage on the India-Pakistan border that allows Sikh pilgrims from India to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur. The gurdwara Darbar Sahib is constructed at the place where Guru Nanak Dev, the first Sikh Guru, spent the last 18 years of his life. Following Partition in 1947, this gurdwara as well as several other holy places of the Sikhs went to Pakistan.
One of the first ‘Panj Pyare’ of Guru Gobind Singh belonged to Dwarika in Gujarat which made him and Punjabi blood relatives, Modi said.
Guru Gobind Singh, the 10th and the last Guru of the Sikhs, had created the institution of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib in 1699. As part of the ceremony, he first baptized five persons from among the devotees — Bhai Daya Singh, Bhai Dharam Singh, Bhai Himmat Singh, Bhai Mohkam Singh and Bhai Sahib Singh — who were ready to sacrifice their lives for him. Bhai Mohkam Singh was from Dwarika (present day Dwarka) in Gujarat.
Earlier, Modi began his speech with the greeting of ‘Sat Sri Akal’ and spoke the first two-three sentences in Punjabi. “I am fortunate that I am starting the election campaign in Punjab from the holy city of Patiala blessed by Guru Tegh Bahadur ji and Kali Mata ji.”
Patiala houses the historical Dukh Nivaran Sahib Gurdwara built on the spot which was visited by the 9th Guru of the Sikhs, Guru Tegh Bahadur. It is also home to the historical Kali Mata temple.
Modi’s visit to Punjab comes more than 2 years after his abrupt departure following a security breach when he was to deliver an address at an election rally ahead of the 2022 state elections.
Unprecedented security arrangements were put in place for the Patiala rally amid announcements by several farmer unions that they would try and meet him to pose questions about their unfulfilled demands. Protesting farmers were stopped at several entry points to the city by the police.
The PM recalled his days spent in Patiala as a BJP worker posted in Punjab. “I remember walking in the morning in the Baradari Gardens and chatting with friends in the Bhatia chowk area to chit chat,” he said.
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Slams Congress & AAP
Modi attacked the Congress and the Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) for being “communal and casteist” and “hating” everything that raised India’s stature and culture. Amid chants of ‘Jai Shri Ram’, Modi said that the Congress should have constructed the Ram Mandir within days of Independence, but now when the shrine is made they are abusing it.
Calling the Punjab CM a “paper chief minister”, Modi said that Bhagwant Mann had nothing better to do than be on duty to wait on at the Delhi darbar of his party.
Modi said that in Punjab, the Delhi-based ‘kattar bhrishtachari (utterly corrupt; read the AAP)’ and the “party that orchestrated the anti-Sikh riots (read the Congress)” were only opposing one another in name.
“But the truth is that the ‘panja (Congress)’ and the ‘jhadu (AAP)’ may be two different parties, but they are running the same shop…whatever the leaders of these parties may be saying in Punjab in Delhi, they are dancing together, carrying one another on their shoulders,” he said. “Those who can deceive their own guru Anna Hazare and lie 10 times in a day can do no good to this state or the nation.”
Listing his contributions to the Sikh community, Modi said that the land of Fatehgarh Sahib is known as the land of the sacrifice of the sons of the Guru. “In the honour of their sacrifice, we declared the marking of Veer Bal Divas (26 December). But people do not understand why I did it. It is sad that people even in Punjab do not understand it. I have lived in Punjab and I know the significance of this sacrifice,” he said.
“For days, our mothers and sisters fast in the remembrance of the Guru’s children. They sleep on the floor. It is a matter of grave significance. But when you travel to the rest of India like in Kerala or in Tamil Nadu, people don’t know about it,” said Modi referring to the martyrdom of Guru Gobind Singh’s four sons — Baba Ajit Singh, Baba Jujhar Singh, Baba Zorawar Singh and Baba Fateh Singh — in 1704-05.
“I used to feel bad that the people of my nation did not know about such a great sacrifice of the sahibzadas. I want every child in this country to be inspired by the sacrifice of the Guru’s children.”
Modi said that his government ensured that the raw material used in langar was tax free and added that donations to the Golden Temple were made possible by his government. “Our Sikh brothers were in trouble in Afghanistan; we rehabilitated them and our minister specially went to bring back the Guru Granth Sahib from there.” .
But, he said, the Congress was opposing the new citizenship law that allowed Sikhs from Pakistan and other countries to seek citizenship in India.
Punjab has always led the nation in agriculture and entrepreneurship but look what the ‘kattar (hardcore)’ corrupt have done to it, the prime minister said.“Industry is fleeing and drug trade is flourishing. The state is not run by the government but by those running in the sand mafia, the drug mafia, and shooter gangs,” he alleged.
(Edited by Tony Rai)
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