News Brief
Nishtha Anushree
May 23, 2024, 05:59 PM | Updated 05:59 PM IST
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Prime Minister Narendra Modi addressed his first rally in Punjab for the 2024 Lok Sabha elections on Thursday (23 May) and mentioned the work done by him for the upliftment of Sikhs.
He alleged in Patiala that Congress hates everything that respects our faith and slammed it for such a partition that "we used to have Kartarpur Sahib darshan through binoculars for 70 years."
"When Bangladesh war happened, over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered and were in our custody. We had the trump card. If Modi would have been at that time, then I would have taken Kartarpur Sahib in exchange for their soldiers," the PM said.
Modi then asserted that he did as much as he could by opening Kartarpur Sahib corridor. He highlighted that he made langars tax-free and allowed foreign donations for Amritsar's Golden Temple.
The PM slammed the INDI Alliance for doing appeasement politics and opposing Citizenship (Amendment) Act (CAA) giving Indian citizenship to those Sikhs who were affected by partition.
"If they oppose CAA, then who will take care of Sikhs persecuted in Pakistan and Bangladesh? I believe this is my duty and hence I enforced CAA, not to gain votes," Modi said asking people if CAA is right or wrong.
Nishtha Anushree is Senior Sub-editor at Swarajya. She tweets at @nishthaanushree.