Hindustan Surkhiyan Desk: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday alleged that Kartarpur went to Pakistan at the time of independence because the then Congress leaders had no vision and they did not respect the Sikh sentiments. Modi was addressing an election gathering Hanumangarh of poll-bound Rajasthan. Referring to the recent opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor across India-Pakistan border, Modi said, “Correcting Congress’ mistakes was my destiny.”
Modi used the corridor issue to attack the Congress and said the party will have to answer why this was not done 70 years ago.
“They (Congress leaders) could not see anything beyond the ‘Rajgaddi’ so Kartarpura went into Pakistan. The credit of the Kartarpur corridor goes to your vote,” he said.
The foundation stone for the much-awaited corridor linking Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan’s Kartarpur – the final resting place of Sikh faith’s founder Guru Nanak Dev – to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in India’s Gurdaspur district was laid last week.
Modi said Kartarpur is in Pakistan today because the then Congress leaders had no idea about the importance of Guru Nanak Dev and had no respect for Sikh sentiments.
The prime minister said that the country was paying the price of the mistakes committed by the Congress for its greed of power.
“The then policy makers of the Congress in the country were in a hurry to come to power. Partition happened and in that too several mistakes were made for which Kartarpur Saheb went into Pakistan,” he said.
“A little bit of wiseness and sensitivity at that time would have ensured that Kartarpur, which is just 3 km away (from India), would not have been away from us. It was their lack of vision and sensitivity that they did not respect sentiments of Sikh community,” Modi alleged.
He said the Congress was in power for 70 years, during which the country fought and won wars, but it could not make arrangement for prayers to be offered at Kartarpur Sahib.
“Why did Congress leaders commit such big mistake and injustice? It has come to my destiny to correct their mistakes. Its credit goes to your one vote and not Modi. Don’t underestimate value of your vote,” he said.
Modi said that people of the country have elected a prime minister who lives for the people, remains awake for the people and bows down to the people.
(With inputs from PTI)
