FEROZEPUR: Union Home Minister Amit Shah on Wednesday said had Narendra Modi been prime minister at the time India gained Independence, Kartarpur Sahib and Nankana Sahib would have been part of this country.
While Kartarpur Sahib is the final resting place of Guru Nanak Dev, Nankana Sahib is the birthplace of the Sikhism founder.
Both these places are now in Pakistan.
At a poll rally in Ferozepur, Shah said it was Modi who fulfilled the Sikhs' long-pending demand of opening the Kartarpur Sahib corridor.
"Had Narendra Modi been the prime minister when India gained Independence, Kartarpur Sahib and Nankana Sahib would have been part of India and not gone to Pakistan," he said.
The 4-km-long Kartarpur Corridor provides visa-free access to Indian Sikh pilgrims to visit Gurdwara Darbar Sahib.
It was inaugurated in 2019.
Punjab goes to polls on February 20.
Addressing a poll rally in Pathankot on Wednesday, Modi had said the Congress had committed a "sin" by failing to keep Kartarpur Sahib within India at the time of Partition.
The opportunity to bring Kartarpur Sahib into India's territory was missed again during the wars of 1965 and 1971 with Pakistan, he said.
At the Ferozepur rally, Shah claimed that only the BJP-led alliance can provide security to Punjab and questioned whether the rival parties to do so.
"I have come here to promise Punjab's mothers that give five years to Narendra Modi (BJP alliance), the youth of your family will not be able to even touch drugs.
We will make Punjab drug-free," he said.
"Could the Akali Dal get Punjab rid of drug menace? Has the Congress party been able to do it? Kejriwal, who has drowned the entire Delhi in liquor, he too cannot do it," Shah said.
The BJP leaders have accused the AAP-led Delhi government of "drowning" the youth in liquor by opening more liquor vends in the national capital.
The AAP, however, has maintained that liquor vends have only been evenly spread across the city under the new excise policy and their number has not increased.
Canvassing for BJP's Rana Gurmit Singh Sodhi who is contesting from Ferozepur Urban Assembly segment, Shah asked whether Punjab can be safe and secure under Congress rule.
Some projects, which could not be inaugurated on January 5 because of the security breach incident during the prime minister's Punjab visit, will now be digitally inaugurated before Baisakhi, the Union home minister said.
He alleged that Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi failed to even secure the route of the prime minister.
On January 5, Narendra Modi had to return to Delhi without attending any event, including a rally, after his convoy got stuck on a flyover due to a blockade by protesters in Ferozepur.
Shah accused the Congress of "deliberately" blocking the prime minister's route.
"Goons were allegedly hired to prevent the prime minister from sharing his heart with Punjabis, and announcing development projects for the state," Shah alleged.
"I want to tell them that you cannot stop us, neither will Punjab people like such tactics of yours."
He targeted the Congress over the 1984 anti-Sikh riots and said it was the Modi government which punished the culprits.
"Before the BJP came to power at the Centre in 2014, terrorists from Pakistan would strike and even behead our soldiers and get away with it. But under Modi's rule India conducted surgical strike and air strike to teach a befitting lesson to the terrorists," Shah said.
Paying tributes to freedom fighter Bhagat Singh, Shah mentioned the valour of army personnel who attained martyrdom in 1965 and 1971.
He said the BJP-led alliance will usher in a new era of development in Punjab with its 11-point agenda, which include making the state free of mafia and drugs, providing employment, health facilities, farmers prospering, empowerment of women and a congenial environment for trade to flourish.
Meanwhile, calling Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi's "UP, Bihar, Delhi de bhaiye remark", "nasty" and "shameful", Union Minister Smriti Irani on Wednesday said while the BJP united people, the Congress divided them.
Addressing an election meeting in support of party candidate Vijay Sampla at Hadiabad sub-town in the evening, the Women and Child Development minister said Channi's statement was against the spirit of "Bhartiyata" and was aimed at disintegrating the society.
During a poll rally in Rupnagar, Channi courted controversy by asking people not to let the "bhaiyas" of Uttar Pradesh, Bihar and Delhi enter the state, a remark apparently aimed at AAP leaders.
In a video circulating on social media, Congress general secretary Priyanka Gandhi Vadra was seen besides Channi clapping when he made the remark.
"Priyanka Gandhi is the daughter-in-law of Punjab. We will not let the Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, Delhi de bhaiye, who have come here to rule, enter the state," Channi, also the Congress chief ministerial candidate, had said.
The word "bhaiyas" in reference to the people from Uttar Pradesh and Bihar is considered offensive.
Irani asserted that the workers from Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, too, were contributing in tandem with the people of Punjab towards the country's progress, and said Channi's remarks were "nasty" and "shameful".
He should rather honour 'rashtra niti' (national policy), leaving aside his personal 'rajniti' (politics), she said.
The BJP leader also accused the Gandhi family of unilaterally deciding on the chief ministerial candidate saying it "once again proved that it was the Gandhi dynasty that decided and not 'janata-janardhan' (people)".
In a veiled reference to Punjab Congress chief Navjot Singh Sidhu's visit to Pakistan, Irani alleged that Congress produced leaders who "hugged the army chief of an enemy country and called him brother".
Targeting the Congress over anti-Sikh riots, she said while the party protected the "killers of innocent Sikhs" for 30 years, the Narendra Modi government sent them to jail.
She lavished praise on the Modi government for 'effectively managing' COVID-19 and the prime minister trusting the capability of Indians in making vaccines.
"There was a concern in the world as to how a country of 135 crore people would face the pandemic but Prime Minister Modi showed them how it is done", she said.
Praising an industrial unit in Phagwara, the minister said it produced the first-approved PPE sample suit, following which 1,100 other companies produced such kits in the next three months, making India its second-largest exporter.
"Had there had been a Congress government (at the Centre), it would have miserably failed to tackle the pandemic and provide free ration to the poor," she remarked.
Earlier, addressing another poll rally at Kapurthala, Irani appealed to the people of Punjab to bring the BJP-led alliance to power for the state's overall development.
Asking the people to vote for her party on February 20, Irani assured a massive infrastructure development to revive Punjab's economy at a cost of Rs one lakh crore over the next five years.