A day after the union cabinet announced the development of the Kartarpur Sahib corridor, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday compared it with the Berlin Wall that divided East and West Germany before it was pulled down in 1989.
He said if the Wall could fall, the proposed corridor could act as a bridge between the people of India and Pakistan.
"Had anyone ever thought that the Berlin Wall would fall. May be with the blessings of Guru Nanak Devji, this Kartarpur corridor will not just remain a corridor, but act as a bridge between the peoples of the two countries," PM Modi said at a Gurupurab function at the residence of Shiromani Akali Dal President Sukhbir Singh Badal in Delhi.
#WATCH: Prime Minister Narendra Modi says on #KartarpurCorridor, "kisne socha that ki Berlin ki deewar gir sakti hai. Shayad Guru Nanak Dev Ji ke aashirwad se, Kartarpur ka corridor sirf corrdior nahi, jan jan ko jodne ka bahut bada karan ban sakta hai" pic.twitter.com/D2WCrD8qNM
— ANI (@ANI) November 23, 2018
Kartarpur Sahib, a Sikh place of worship where Guru Nanak is believed to have spent the last 18 years of his life, is situated in Narowal district of Pakistan's Punjab province. There have been demands to build a corridor linking it with Dera Baba Nanak in Gurdaspur district of Punjab.
The union cabinet on Thursday approved the development of the corridor from Dera Baba Nanak to the International Border. The Ministry of External Affairs also sent a communication to the Pakistan government, urging it to develop a corridor with suitable facilities in its territory from the International Border to Gurudwara Kartarpur Sahib.
The Pakistan government agreed to open the Kartarpur Corridor in 2019 for Guru Nanak's 550th birth anniversary.
"When I was the Chief Minister of Gujarat, I ordered to re-construct the sacred place where Guru Nanak's "padukaon" had been kept. The place had got damaged due to earthquake. Today, it has become a site of "World Heritage". With the blessing of Guru Nanak Dev-ji, Kartarpur Corridor is not only a corridor, it also could be a reason to connect people," PM Modi said.
The Berlin Wall was built in 1961 and was pulled down on November 9, 1989. The fall of the wall marked the beginning of the German unification, which was completed in 1990.