Prime Minister Narendra Modi claimed that Kartarpur – where the founder of Sikhism Guru Nanak died in 1539 – could have remained in India but is in Pakistan today because of the Congress’ “lack of vision”, reported NDTV.
India and Pakistan laid the foundation stone for a corridor linking the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur to Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Punjab’s Gurdaspur district last week.
Modi said Kartarpur would have remained in India had Congress leaders shown sensitivity and seriousness about the matter during Partition. The Congress leaders at the time had no idea about the importance of Guru Nanak and did not respect Sikh sentiments, he alleged. “The credit of the Kartarpur corridor goes to your vote,” PTI quoted the prime minister as saying. “Correcting Congress’ mistakes was my destiny.”
The prime minister made the remarks a rally in Hanumangarh, Rajasthan. The state goes to the polls on Friday.
Modi also targeted the Congress for scams during the rule of the United Progressive Alliance government. “The headlines five years ago were about corruption and scams,” he said. “Have you seen any news of this kind in the last five years?”
The prime minister said his government wants to make farmers “energy givers” and urged them to install solar panels, use drip irrigation and other modern methods of farming. “The naamdar [dynast] does not know the difference between red and green chillies,” he said, in an apparent reference to Congress President Rahul Gandhi.
Modi said farmers in the country have been ruined by the policies formulated by “four generations of the same family” who do not understand farming.
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