Blaming the Indian National Congress for every issue is a habit for the Bhartiya Janata Party. In regard to the Kartarpur transfer during partition days, it was said that the Congress was in an extreme hurry to take charge of the country. So it did not keep in mind the sentiments of the Sikh community and thus made the huge mistake of letting the Kartarpur Gurudwara go to Pakistan at that time.
But was it so? The British were transferring the power to India and Pakistan. It was they who demarcated the borderline on all the sides. In that case, the allegation of hurry seems not fit by the ruling party leaders. Where is that ineffective point? The Radcliffe Line was declared as the boundary between both the countries following the partition.
In the year around the partition, it was obviously the Radcliffe Line that was named after Sir Cyril Radcliffe, who was commissioned to equitably divide 4,50,000 sq km of territory of 88 million people. This was also the boundary line between India and Pakistan – portions of Punjab and Bengal provinces of British India that got divided in August 1947.
According to this Line, the Shakargarh Tehsil on the right bank of river Ravi went to Pakistan. Kartarpur was part of this very Tehsil, therefore, it was kept into that country. Gurudaspur Tehsil on the left bank of the river directly came to India. That was why the three km difference persists even today. There was no relevance in stressing that if the Congress leaders would have paid a little more attention, that part of the land would have been in our country.
It could be said that the past leaders must not have thought that a thoko-taali fame cricketer-turned-politician would come to Pakistan and embrace Pakistan army chief with a second’s jhappi for opening the much-debated corridor after seventy long years. It is quite queersome that the turbaned leader happens to be a Congressman.
However, our Prime Minister Narendra Modi in an election rally at Hanumangarh in Rajasthan enthusiastically said that the work on Kartarpur corridor was being done now because of the people had voted the BJP government into power. Now, it is entirely in the hands of those people to decide who is factual in the assertion over the much-awaited corridor.