Gadkari’s river-link idea sparks Punjab row

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Having already offended political veteran Mulayam Singh Yadav and Lalu Prasad Yadav, Bharatiya Janata Party president Nitin Gadkari has now drawn the ire most Punjabi politicians in suggesting the nationalisation of

water resources through river-linking and the inclusion of irrigation in the concurrent list instead of the state list.
Leading the indignant pack is the Punjab Congress Party which dubbed Mr Gadkari’s suggestion “nothing but a direct attack on the riparian rights of Punjab”.
Party spokesman Sukhpal Khaira said, “Punjab witnessed a bloody history over sharing of river waters that led to militancy in the state and consumed over 25,000 innocent lives. It is shocking that a president of a national party that too the alliance partner of the Akali Dal is unaware of the ramifications of such a statement.”
But then the BJP chief’s words have caused considerable consternation within the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal also. Though maintaining a public silence on the sensitive matter, senior part leaders are aghast that Mr Gadkari could envisage something so completely contrary to the SAD’s position on river waters which was also distinctly spelled out in the party’s 2007 election manifesto.
Notably, at his Meet the Press programme in Chandigarh on Thursday, Mr Gadkari had said he would discuss the issue with SAD leaders, including chief minister Parkash Singh Badal. “Unless there is cooperation between parties wastage of water cannot be stopped,” he had stated responding to queries on the Punjab-Haryana water dispute.
While the Akalis are yet to formulate their response, the separatist Dal Khalsa has been prompt.
The group’s convenor, Mr Kanwarpal Singh, said, “This is noting short of a terrorist conspiracy jointly hatched by the RSS and the BJP to snatch the Punjabi peoples’ precious riparian resources. The Akalis are co-conspirators who have always kept their petty political interests above those of Punjab.”
He said, “Punjabis are essentially farmers and extremely sensitive about their water resources. We have already sacrificed thousands of lives to protect our rivers in the past and will not hesitate in the future.”
Punjab’s ruling coalition, which was party to a Congress-led legislation in July 2004 abrogating all previous water sharing agreements and has been vehemently opposed to the completion of the Sutlej-Yamuna link canal to carry additional water to Haryana, will find it very tough to wriggle out of the spot that Mr Gadkari has created for them.