At his first election rally in Punjab, Prime Minister Narendra Modi talked about the 1971 war with Pakistan when over 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered. He said that if he had been the prime minister then, he would have taken Gurdwara Kartarpur Sahib from Pakistan in exchange for releasing the Pakistani troops.

During the partition, Kartarpur Sahib, where Guru Nanak Dev spent his final years, became part of Pakistan's Punjab, very close to the Indian border. PM Modi blamed the Congress for the partition, saying it was motivated by power politics.

"For 70 years, we could only see the Kartarpur Sahib gurdwara with binoculars. I tell the Congress that during the Bangladesh war, 90,000 Pakistani soldiers surrendered. We had the trump card in our hands. If Modi had been there then, he would have taken Kartarpur Sahib from Pakistan and then released their soldiers," he said.