Modi attacks Congress over Kartarpur
BJP says government is committed to ensuring justice to anti-sikh riot victims and asks why Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara was allowed to go to Pakistan during partition when it was close to the border
NEW DELHI: Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday said the BJP government is committed to ensuring justice to the 1984 antisikh riot victims and asked why the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara was allowed to go to Pakistan during partition when it was close to the border.
Addressing a gathering after releasing a Rs 350 commemorative coin to mark the birth anniversary of Guru Gobind Singh here, Modi said his government was pledged to facilitate the smooth entry of Sikhs to Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara in Pakistan through the Kartarpur corridor.
“The gurdwara was just a few kilometres away but it was not brought in India. Building the Kartarpur corridor is an honest attempt to recompense that loss. It is an act of repentance for the mistake that happened in August 1947,” he said.
The Prime Minister also said that the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) government would ensure that justice was provided to “all sisters and mothers” who were victims of the 1984 anti-sikh riots that followed the assassination of then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi.
“The central government is working to provide justice to those who have been subjected to injustice since 1984,” he said.
Modi also said that his government had asked all Indian embassies to celebrate the 352nd ‘Prakash Utsav’ of Guru Gobind Singh.
Calling Guru Gobind Singh a “multitalented personality,” Modi said the Sikh master was not just a warrior but a poet AND LITERARY IGURE WHOSE VALUES COULD be found in the foundation of new India.
Calling the opposition alliance “opportunist”, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday accused the parties coming together ahead of the Lok Sabha polls of practicing negative politics for their own existence and said the BJP was not in politics for “divide and rule” or building vote banks.
The Prime Minister’s attack come during his interaction with booth level BJP workers from Mayiladuthurai, Perambalur, Sivaganga, Theni and Virudhunagar in Tamil Nadu through video conference.
“Unlike other parties, we are not in politics for divide and rule or building vote banks. We are here to serve the country in every possible way. The upcoming polls are very important for BJP and the country,” he said.
“On one hand, we have our development agenda and the vision of ‘sabka saath, sabka vikas’ while on the other hand there are opportunist alliances and dynastic parties. They want to build their own empires while we want to empower the people,” he added.
Modi said that success of his government had upset the opposition leaders and that was the reason they were busy in negative politics.
“They are abusing Modi and the BJP but they should not underestimate the people. Our friends in opposition are anyway a confused lot. They leave no opportunity to say that Modi is bad, government is not working, people disLIKE THE BJP, YET THE IRST THING THEY do is form opportunist alliances with parties they disliked till recently and still do perhaps,” he said in a apparent jibe at the coming together of SP and BSP in Uttar Pradesh.
He asked if Modi was so bad and that his government was not working, why were they making alliances.
“SHOULD YOU NOT BE CONIDANT OF Yourself? The truth is that they know this government is a working government. They know the poor, youth, women and farmers have a strong bonding with BJP. Just for their own existence, they are making short term alliance,” he said.
EXPRESSING CONIDENCE THAT HIS PARTY would do well in the Lok Sabha elections, he urged the workers to keep reaching out to different sections of society.