- PM is to blame for the messy stalemate on the Narmada issue and he alone must set it right – and soon.
- It’ll be a sad day for Indian democracy if a democratically elected CM is forced to go on a hunger-strike to quench the thirst of his people and in defense of what has been permitted by the Supreme Court.
I spoke with Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh last night from Hindupur and expressed my strong disapproval of the politically motivated manner in which his government has tried to block the construction of the Narmada dam upto the height (121.92 metres) permitted by the Supreme Court. In the process, the UPA government has created a messy Centre-state stalemate which is unprecedented in the history of the Indian Republic.
I told the Prime Minister that it would be a sad day for Indian democracy if Shri Narendra Modi, the democratically elected Chief Minister of Gujarat, is forced to go on a hunger strike to quench the thirst of his people and in defense of what has already been permitted by the Supreme Court. I heartily commend Gujarat Chief Minister Shri Narendra Modi for once again taking his legitimate case to the people by deciding to go on a 51-hour fast at Sabarmati Ashram in Ahmedabad from Sunday.
Narmada is the lifeline of Gujarat: My Bharat Suraksha Yatra started from Rajkot on April 6. All along the route in Saurashtra, I could see the happy faces of people in the previously water-starved villages and towns which have now started receiving water thanks to the Narmada project. However, there are still as many as 4,000 villages of Gujarat and Rajasthan that are still eagerly waiting for the Narmada waters to reach them. The kisans are also waiting for the Narmada waters to quench the thirst of their arid land. It's literally a life-and-death situation for them. Their legitimate needs will be fulfilled only of the Narmada dam is allowed to be raised upto 121.92 meters, the height permissible by the Supreme Court.
PM's contention contested: The Prime Minister seemed to show his helplessness in the matter by saying that the opinion within the 6-member review committee of the Narmada Control Authority (NCA), which met yesterday under the chairmanship of the Union water resources minister Prof. Saifuddin Soz, was divided. I contested this claim by putting forward three arguments:
- Firstly, there is no division of opinion among the three chief ministers of the states (Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh and Rajasthan) that are directly concerned with the project. They were unanimous in wanting construction of the dam to continue upto the permissible height.
- Secondly, as far as Gujarat (the state that is most in need of the Narmada project) is concerned, there is no division of opinion between the ruling party (BJP) and the opposition party (Congress). In a rare display of bipartisan solidarity, both are unanimous in wanting construction of the dam to continue upto the permissible height.
- Thirdly, the fact that the remaining three members of the review committee - Prof. Soz, Shri Raja (Union Minister of Environment and Forests) and Maharashtra chief minister Shri Vilasrao Deshmukh - wanted suspension of further work on the Narmada project is highly revealing. It is revealing that all three took the same hostile position. It shows that the central government had already surrendered before the anti-dam activists and promised them, in contravention of the spirit of Supreme Court judgement, that further work on the Narmada project would be stalled.
A weak PM cannot provide 'unified command' to his own govt: I hold the Prime Minister primarily responsible for showing indecision, drift, bias and abdication of responsibility in an important Centre-state matter like this. This is clear first from the Union cabinet buckling under the coercive pressure of the anti-dam activists and referring the matter to the review committee of the NCA. Secondly, there was the farce of a whistle-stop visit by a three-member central team to ascertain rehabilitation of project-affected people.
Thirdly, he has turned a blind eye to the most absurd and blatantly partisan conduct of his water resources minister. Prof. Soz's unlawful, unauthorised and unilateral announcement yesterday about the central government’s decision to suspend further construction on the Narmada dam, and his later retraction of that statement, shows that Prof. Soz did not discharge his duties as the Union water resources minister impartially.
The messy stalemate over the Narmada issue, which is a creation of the anti-BJP politics of the UPA, demonstrates that here is a government headed by a weak Prime Minister which has no unified central command and in which ministers do what they want for partisan considerations. Only three days ago, the PM talked of the need for a unified command for fighting the naxal menace. The nation is waiting to see whether the Union government itself has a unified command and whether the Prime Minister is indeed sitting at the steering wheel of his government.
Against the spirit of Bharat Nirman: I would like to remind the Prime Minister, who takes much pride in talking about his government's Bharat Nirman initiative, that here is a project of national importance in which the concerned States have already invested Rs 21,000 crore in the last about 16 years. Stalling further work on this mega project makes a mockery of the UPA government's tall talk of Bharat Nirman.
I have spoken to the chief minister of Gujarat last night and apprised him of my conversation with the PM. Shri Shivraj Singh Chauhan, chief minister of Madhya Pradesh, has assured me that no effort would be spared by his government to ensure proper and speedy rehabilitation of the project-affected people.
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