Two days after the Supreme Court began hearing the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) Canal dispute upon Presidential Reference, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal today said the state does not have a single drop of water to spare and will ensure there is no compromise on "inalienable" rights under the Riparian Principle.
He said this after Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar expressed hope the Supreme Court's decision on SYL Canal would be in favour of the state.
"The Supreme Court had accepted the petition filed by the state government for early hearing on the issue of the SYL Canal, on which Presidential Reference was pending," he said.
Hours after Khattar's statement, Badal said, "Punjab's stand on the subject has been consistent, clear and categorical and there can be no compromise on the rights of Punjab as a Riparian State."
While Khattar leads BJP government in Haryana, the party is an ally of Badal's SAD in Punjab.
"SAD is ready to make every sacrifice on this sacred path. No price is too high to safeguard every drop of Punjab's waters, as it is the life blood of the state, especially its farmers," said the SAD patron-in-chief in a statement.
He said the history of SAD's contribution to the cause of the state and its people is "written in blood" unlike that of opponents who have been just paying "lip service" and issuing press statements for public consumption.
"I assure the people, especially our farmers, I will leave no stone unturned to save the interests of the state, especially the interests of the farmers," Badal said.
There will be no deviation from the legacy of waging legal, political constitutional or religious struggles to safeguard the interests of the people, Badal said.
He also asked opposition parties not to act in a manner that weakens the state's case by vitiating the atmosphere through needless statements only for political publicity.
"Every Punjabi, including the Opposition, must speak in one voice on the issue, as we had done in 2004. All political parties must follow the example set by SAD," Badal said.
Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) member Sukhpal Singh Khaira urged
Harsimrat Kaur Badal to resign from the Narendra Modi Cabinet, if the Akalis are serious about preventing construction of the disputed Sutlej Yamuna Link Canal (SYL).
"Solicitor General of India Ranjit Kumar has urged the five member constitutional bench of the Supreme Court hearing the Presidential Reference on the validity of the Termination of Water Agreement Act, 2004, that the Modi government favours early completion of the SYL canal," Khaira said.
"The Solicitor General has filed an affidavit to this effect in the Supreme Court," he said.
"Since Harsimrat Kaur Badal, daughter-in-law of Parkash Singh Badal is a member of the Cabinet, it is presumed that the Modi government's stand favouring early completion of the SYL canal is with the concurrence of the SAD and the Badal government," the AAP leader said.
On April 6, 1982, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had made the first dig of SYL canal at Kapori village that led to chaos and bloodshed in Punjab. One of the issues that saw Punjab being engulfed in militancy was the stiff opposition to the forced construction of SYL by the then Central government, Khaira said.
"Akalis and Badal reaped huge political mileage on SYL issue by instigating the youth to vehemently oppose any kind of sharing of our river waters with Haryana or Rajasthan. While the youths took to violence and lost their lives, SAD utterly failed to safeguard the waters of Punjab," he said.
Once again Badal and SAD are shedding crocodile tears and promising to approach the Prime Minister, while the Centre has categorically made its stand clear in the Supreme Court favouring early completion of the canal, Khaira said.
AAP is of the firm view, that Punjab cannot afford to spare even a drop of water to any other state, particularly at a time when our agrarian economy is in shambles with a colossal debt of Rs 51,000 crore, due to which farmers are committing suicides, he said.
"The party will oppose tooth and nail any move on the part of Modi government to begin construction of SYL canal," Khaira said.
