Eyeing 2022 Punjab assembly polls, the politicians are evoking Kartarpur corridor issue to woo the voters. The much-sought-after corridor, connecting Gurudwara Darbar Sahib in Kartarpur in Pakistan with Dera Baba Nanak in Punjab, was inaugurated on November 9, 2019. However, the pilgrimage was suspended on March 16, 2020, owing to the coronavirus (COVID-19) outbreak.

Chief Minister Charanjit Singh Channi on Tuesday took to Twitter to urge the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to reopen the Kartarpur corridor before the Sikhs’ first master Guru Nanak Dev’s birth anniversary on November 19.

Joining Channi in his demand, Punjab Congress president Navjot Singh Sidhu also visited Dera Baba Nanak in the morning to urge the Centre to reopen Kartarpur Sahib corridor. Also, the former Union Minister and SAD MP Harsimrat Kaur Badal suggested Indo-Pak land swap for inclusion of Kartarpur Sahib in India.

Notably, the BJP is also banking on the reopening of Kartarpur Sahib corridor to woo the Sikh community ahead Punjab polls, scheduled to be held early next year.

November 9 marks the second anniversary of the opening of the Kartarpur corridor, which was inaugurated in 2019 to provide Indian pilgrims visa-free access to Gurdwara Darbar Sahib — the last resting place of Sikhism founder Guru Nanak.

On March 16, 2020, both India and Pakistan temporarily suspended the day-long pilgrimage in wake of COVID-19 pandemic and also suspended the registration for the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage. However, on October 2, 2020, the Pakistan Government announced to unilaterally open the Kartarpur Sahib pilgrimage but India did not reciprocate the gesture.

India and Pakistan signed the Kartarpur corridor agreement with Pakistan on October 24, 2019. Under the pact, Indian pilgrims of all faiths are allowed to undertake round-the-year visa-free travel through the 4.7-kilometre-long Kartarpur corridor.

The first to kindle the hopes of the Sikh devotees is senior BJP leader Tarun Chugh who, the previous week, had claimed that the Union Government can open the corridor soon.

Channi’s fresh appeal came after his separate letters to the Prime Minister Modi and the Union Home Minister Amit Shah the previous month requesting them to allow pilgrims to visit the Gurdwara dedicated to Sikh Guru Nanak Dev in Pakistan.

“Urging again, I appeal PM @narendramodi to reopen the #KartarpurCorridor before the auspicious occasion of Parkash Purab of Guru Nanak Dev Ji this month. Had written letters to both PM, HM @AmitShah last month to allow pilgrims to visit the Gurdwara Sri Darbar Sahib in Pakistan,” Channi tweeted.

Earlier in the day, Congress Punjab unit president Navjot Singh Sidhu visited the Dera Baba Nanak shrine in Gurdaspur to offer prayers. “I believe that the langha (corridor) will be opened with the blessings of Baba (Guru Nanak Dev Ji). I have come here with a faith and believe that it is due to the spiritual light that everybody will get enlightened. We need his support and blessings. I consider Baba as my father after the demise of my parents. This is a corridor of infinite possibilities,” said Sidhu.

Sidhu, who visited Darshan Asthan along zero line in Gurdaspur district for darshan (glimpse) of Gurdwara Darbar Sahib across the border which is just about four kms away, said that that he would write to the Centre “and if there is any problem, they can tell the state government”.

“I guarantee you that Punjab Government will work towards this on priority. There should be four to five binoculars. We want the corridor to stay open. If in case, it has to remain closed for any reason, the Darshan Asthan should be available for everyone for having ‘khule darshan didar’ of the Kartarpur Sahib Gurdwara,” he said.

Later in the day, former Union Minister Harsimrat Badal sought PM’s intervention for “immediate re-opening of Kartarpur sahib corridor”.

Harsimrat urged the Prime Minister to intervene personally to “open the proposal for a land swap between India and Pakistan for merger of  the holy shrine at Kartarpur Sahib with India in exchange for a suitable chunk of land elsewhere on the lines of the Hussainiwala village exchange”.

She also urged the PM to take the diplomatic initiative for the creation of a “Permanent Peace Corridor” to link all multi-faith sacred shrines left in Pakistan with the Indo Pak border.  Among other things, she said, this would be “the first step towards the eventual fulfilment of the sacred Sikh prayer for “khulle darshan deedare te seva sambhal (unhindered access and the right to perform service of the Guru) of all the sacred shrine which were weaned away from the devout Sikh masses in 1947”. Harsimrat, in her two-page letter to the PM, recalled that the proposal for the land swap to merge Kartarpur Sahib with India was first mooted “by SAD in 1948.  In fact, in 1969, the then Prime Minister of India agreed to formally approach the Government of Pakistan for this exchange of land on the pattern that the two countries had earlier followed in the Ferozepur sector with regard to the martyrdom place of Shaheed-e-Azam Sardar Bhagat Singh ji as well as between India and Bangladesh with regard to the Farakka Dam”.