Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee chief Navjot Singh Sidhu on Saturday crossed over the Pakistan border to visit the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib after his name was left out of Punjab Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi’s entourage visiting the shrine on Thursday due to a “technical glitch”.
The Punjab Congress chief travelled through the visa-free Kartarpur corridor and arrived back in India on Saturday afternoon. Speaking to reporters, Sidhu batted for opening the corridor for cross-border trade.
“I request that if you want to change Punjab’s life, we should open the borders. Why should we go through Mundra Port, a total of 2100-km? Why not from here (Kartarpur corridor), where it’s only 21-km (to Pakistan),” Sidhu was quoted as saying by news agency. He added that the reopening of the corridor was made possible due to Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Pakistan Prime Minister Imran Khan.
The Kartarpur corridor was reopened after a gap of 20 months on November 18, ahead of Guru Nanak’s Gurpurab. The first batch of 28 Indian Sikhs, including women, had visited the Gurdwara Darbar Sahib in Pakistan on Wednesday by using the corridor on the first day of its reopening.
The Punjab Congress chief was greeted at the border by dignitaries of the Pakistan government on behalf of PM Khan.
Reacting to those raising objections on Sidhu calling Khan his “bada bhai” (big brother), Punjab Minister Pargat Singh, was quoted as saying: “When PM Modi goes (to Pakistan) he is a “Desh Premi“, when Sidhu goes, he is “Desh Drohi”. Can’t I call you a brother? We follow Guru Nanak Dev’s philosophy.”
Earlier this month, on the second anniversary of the inauguration of Kartarpur Sahib corridor, Sidhu had visited Dera Baba Nanak and prayed for reopening of the corridor that was closed due to the Covid -19 outbreak. In 2019, the Punjab Congress chief was the first to bring the news of opening of the corridor – connecting Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab to Darbar Sahib in Pakistan – and had attended its inauguration alongside PM Khan.
He also paid obeisance at Sultanpur Lodhi, another holy place associated with Guru Nanak, on Friday.