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Punjab Lok Sabha Elections 2024: Modi linked the Gujarati origins of one of the ‘Panj Pyare’ of last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, with his own Gujarati origins and said that it made him and Punjabi people blood relatives.
In his first election rally in northern India’s Punjab state, Prime Minister Narendra Modi raised the past spectre of 1971 war with Pakistan and added that had he been the prime minister then, he would have taken Kartarpur Sahib in return for the release of over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers who surrendered to Indian forces then.
Kartarpur Sahib, the resting place of the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak Dev, is regarded as the holiest shrine of Sikh faith. After British India’s division on religious lines in 1947, Kartarpur Sahib became part of the present-day Pakistan. Indian citizens and People of Indian Origin (PIOs) are able to access the shrine through a 4.7 km corridor between India and Pakistan that came into being in 2019 — an event that PM Modi himself had linked to the fall of Berlin wall amid growing hostilities between India and Pakistan over latter’s consistent support for terrorism inside Indian territory.
Prime Minister Narendra 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, widely considered a stronghold of former Chief Minister Captain (retd) Amarinder Singh of the Congress party. Singh quit the party in 2022 and now his wife Preneet Kaur is contesting on a BJP ticket from Patiala.
Punjab is set to vote on June 1.
“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.
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Modi linked the Gujarati origins of one of the ‘Panj Pyare’ of last Sikh Guru, Guru Gobind Singh, with his own Gujarati origins and said that it made him and Punjabi people blood relatives.
Guru Gobind Singh created the institution of the Khalsa at Anandpur Sahib in 1699. As part of the ceremony, he first baptised 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 present-day Dwarika in Gujarat.
Punjab Lok Sabha Elections: First visit since alleged security breach
Modi’s visit to Punjab came more than two years after his abrupt departure following an alleged security breach ahead of 2022 state elections.
The BJP has struggled to make inroads in Punjab. Of all the states in northern India, Punjab remains the only state where the Opposition parties — Congress and Aam Aadmi Party — run strong. The BJP’s Punjab ally, Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), broke off its alliance in 2021 in opposition to the now-rescinded three farm laws.
The prime minister also 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.
Describing the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann 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.
“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,” Modi said.
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.”
(With inputs from agencies)
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Mukul Sharma
Mukul Sharma is a New Delhi-based multimedia journalist covering geopolitical developments in and beyond the Indian subcontinent. Deeply interested in the affairs
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