New Delhi/Hanumangarh: Stepping up his attack on the Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday alleged that Kartarpur went to Pakistan at the time of Independence because the party’s leaders of that time had no vision and did not respect Sikh sentiments.
Addressing election rallies in Rajsathan, Mr Modi accused the then Congress leadership of “lacking in vision and sensitivity” towards one of the holiest Sikh shrines, and said the Congress was in power for 70 years but made no arrangements for prayers to be offered at Kartarpur Sahib, which is barely three kilometres from the Indian border.
Referring to the recent opening of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor across the India-Pakistan border, Mr Modi said, “Why did Congress leaders commit such big mistake and injustice? Correcting Congress’ mistakes is my destiny. But the credit for this goes to your one vote and not to Modi. Don’t underestimate value of your vote.”
“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 Indian government recently approved development of the Kartarpur corridor and the Pakistan government responded almost immediately, saying that it too had decided to open the corridor that will connect Dera Baba Nanak village in Gurdaspur to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib Kartarpur in Pakistan.
The Prime Minister also latched onto Congress president Rahul Gandhi’s “Bharat Mata Ki Jai” barb at him, saying he would recite the slogan 10 times in the presence of lakhs of people.
“Congress has a ‘naamdaar’. That naamdaar iss-ued a ‘fatwa’ today, that Modiji should not start election rallies with ‘Bh-arat Mata ki Jai’. Ther-efore, I, today in the presence of lakhs of people here, crushed his fatwa and said ‘Bharat Mata ki Jai’ ten times,” he said at a rally in Sikar district of poll-bound Rajasthan
“You (Gandhi) should be ashamed for this. Freedom fighters embraced death by saying Bharat Mata ki Jai. Our soldiers carry out surgical strikes and say Bharat Mata ki Jai. You are insulting Bharat Mata,” he said.
Earlier in the day, during a rally in Alwar district, Mr Gandhi said the PM recites Bharat Mata ki Jai in all his election rallies, but works for industrialist Anil Ambani.
“In every address, he says Bharat Mata ki Jai and works for Anil Ambani. He should begin his address by saying ‘Anil Ambani ki Jai’, ‘Mehul Choksi ki Jai’, ‘Nirav Modi ki Jai’ and ‘Lalit Modi ki Jai’,” Mr Gandhi said.
Mr Gandhi added that Bharat Mata means the “entire country, farmers, sentiments of crores of youths, women and labourers”.
Mr Modi also hit out at former Rajasthan chief minister Ashok Gehlot’s reported remark of “who knows who will become crorepati”, saying it reflected the real intention of Congress party.
Mr Gehlot made the remark when media asked him who would be the chief minister if the party won.
Holding Congress responsible for all the problems prevailing in the country, the Prime Minister said people should not allow the party to enter Rajasthan for centuries.
He also said that the Rahul Gandhi-led party gave tickets to family members of those lodged in jail in rape cases and women and girls should not give vote to Congress.
He was apparently referring to Mahipal Maderna, who was a minister in Mr Gehlot’s Cabinet, and former MLA Malkhan Bishnoi. They are facing trial in the notorious Bhanwari Devi abduction and murder case in Jodhpur.
The Congress has given ticket to Maderna’s daughter Divya Maderna from Osian and Bishnoi’s son Mahendra Bishnoi from Luni seat in Jodhpur for the upcoming state polls.
Cornering the Opposition party on the issues of farmers, Mr Modi said the UPA dispensation had promised loan waiver and returned to power in 2009 Lok Sabha polls, but only Rs 58,000 crore out of the total loan amount of Rs 6 lakh crore was waived off.
Alleging that the Congress looted and destroyed banks, the PM said a loss-making steel company was given loan after a call by “Naamdaar” and the money went to a fake company that existed only on papers, and that fake company purchased land in Rajasthan and transferred them to a relative of “Naamdaar”.
“The rates of the land increased seven times in just two years,” he said.
The comments apparently hint at the land purchased by the company of Priyanka Gandhi’s husband Robert Vadra in Bikaner.
Rajasthan goes to polls on December 7.
