"History and all this stuff is good for academic discussions in University," he said (File)
After Prime Minister Narendra Modi asserted that he would have taken Kartarpur Sahib back from Pakistan for the release of Pakistani soldiers at the time of Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, Congress leader Shashi Tharoor on Friday said that such kind of "counterfactual conversation borderline" is irresponsible adding that the Prime Minister would not have been able to execute what he claimed yesterday.
"I find this kind of counterfactual conversation borderline irresponsible. Kartarpur was never discussed it was not a controversy at that time it was not an issue. 50-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," Shashi Tharoor told ANI.
"History and all this stuff is good for academic discussions in University. They are not relevant considerations in the election today," he added.
Earlier, launching a scathing attack at Congress, Prime Minister Narendra Modi said that if had he been the PM of the country at the time of the Bangladesh Liberation War in 1971, he would have reclaimed Kartarpur Sahib from Pakistan in return for the release of Pakistani soldiers.
"At the time of the Bangladesh War, we had 90,000 soldiers of Pakistan. The 'Hukum ka Ikka' was in our hands. If Modi had been there at that time, I would have taken Kartarpur Sahib from them and then released their soldiers. Still, I got Kartarpur Sahib Corridor built," he said.
Village Kartarpur is located on the west bank of river Ravi where Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji spent the last 18 years of his life. Gurdwara Dera Baba Nanak is about 1 km from the Indo-Pakistan border and on the east bank of River Ravi.
To the west side of the river is located the town of Kartarpur, Pakistan. Gurdwara Sri Kartarpur Sahib falls in district Narowal of Pakistan, about 4.5 km from the international border near the historic town of Dera Baba Nanak, District Gurdaspur, Punjab, according to MHA.
The Indian part of Dera Baba Nanak - Sri Kartarpur Sahib corridor involves a 4.1 k.m. long four-lane highway from Dera Baba Nanak to the international border and a state-of-the-art Passenger Terminal Building (PTB) at the international border.
Dera Baba Nanak is a city situated in Gurdaspur district in the state of Punjab, India. Followers of Sri Guru Nanak Dev Ji built the town and named it Dera Baba Nanak after their great ancestor.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)