Addressing a rally in Punjab's Patiala on May 23, Prime Minister Narendra Modi criticised Congress for not reclaiming Kartarpur Sahib when Indian forces had defeated Pakistan and captured more than 90,000 of its soldiers during the 1971 war for Bangladesh.
"When the war for Bangladesh was fought, more than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers had surrendered. More than 90,000 Pakistani soldiers were captured by us. Had Modi been at that time, I would have taken Kartarpur Sahib from them and only would have released the soldiers," said Modi.
Reacting to Modi's statement, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor said this kind of counterfactual conversation is borderline irresponsible.
"Fifty odd years later you can't start inventing what you would have done. I don't think that Mr Modi would have been able to do anything like that in the kind of India we had back in 1971," said Tharoor.