NEW DELHI: Defence minister Rajnath Singh on Sunday said the borders “can change” as he hinted that Sindh, which went to Pakistan during Partition, could “return to India again someday,” stressing the region’s deep civilisational ties with the country.Speaking at an event, he said, “Today, the land of Sindh may not be a part of India, but civilisationally, Sindh will always be a part of India. And as far as land is concerned, borders can change. Who knows, tomorrow Sindh may return to India again.”
The minister referred to the Sindh province along the Indus River, noting that many Sindhi families migrated to India after 1947. Citing former deputy PM and BJP stalwart LK Advani, he said Sindhi Hindus of that generation had never fully reconciled with the separation.“Lal Krishna Advani wrote in one of his books that Sindhi Hindus, especially those of his generation, still haven’t accepted the separation of Sindh from India,” Singh said.He cited Advani to underline that the Indus River’s importance goes far beyond geography. “Not just in Sindh, but throughout India, Hindus consider the Indus River sacred. Many Muslims in Sindh also believed that the water of the Indus was no less sacred than the Aab-e-Zamzam of Mecca. This is Advani ji’s quote.”Reiterating the emotional link, Singh said, “Our people of Sindh, who hold the Indus River sacred, will always be our own. No matter where they are, they will always be ours.”Singh also recalled his efforts to provide proper citizenship via law to various immigrant Sindhi families after his visit to the community in Delhi back in 2019, describing their living conditions as “distressing.” He went on to add that because of NDA being in minority in Rajya Sabha back then, the bill collapsed in the upper house, but Amit Shah taking over the home affairs continued the work in the direction, a possible reference to Citizenship Amendment Act.“People from the Sindhi community and various other non-Muslim groups had fled to Delhi, where they were living in slums in extremely distressing conditions. I personally went to see them. After returning, I decided that we would enact whatever laws were necessary to grant them proper citizenship. I spoke to Prime Minister Modi and apprised him that I was moving forward in this direction. The bill was prepared, I introduced it in the Lok Sabha, and it was passed there. But it was the final phase of 2019, only a few months were left, and we did not have a majority in the Rajya Sabha. I spoke to several opposition leaders, but they refused to support it. I said that if it didn’t pass that year, it would certainly be passed the next year. Later, when Amit Shah became the Home Minister, I spoke to him, and he took the work forward,” he added. Earlier in September while interacting with the Indian community in Morocco, Singh had expressed confidence that Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK) would integrate with India “without aggressive steps”.“PoK will be ours on its own. Demands have started being made in PoK, you must have heard sloganeering,” he had said then.
