Akali Dal chief and ex-Deputy Chief Minister of Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal on Friday said that the Sutlej–Yamuna Link Canal could be built over his dead body only. Giving an incendiary twist to the decades old dispute between Punjab and Haryana, he further stated that he would “ensure that not a drop of water flows through SYL canal”.
Taking to Twitter Badal said, “The #SYLCanal can be built only on my dead body. As the chief servant of @Akali_Dal_, the army which has led the fight for Punjab’s interests from the front, I am honour bound to ensure that not a drop of water flows through SYL canal.” In a string of tweets on Friday, Badal said that he can die but cannot watch Punjab turn into a desert and riparian rights were paramount and everything else was irrelevant.
“We cannot just stand there and watch as Punjab turns into a desert and its children watching their river waters carried to other states right in front of their eyes. I have a legacy of martyrdom to live up and no matter what my critics say, I am ready to die for it,” Badal said in another tweet. He further stressed in yet another tweet, “The first thing to decide here is the Riparian rights of states. Everything else is irrelevant.”
Badal’s inflammatory statement comes two days after AAP leader and Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal on Wednesday exhorted Prime Minister Narendra Modi to find a solution to the SYL dispute. “I appeal to the prime minster to ensure arrangement of adequate water for both Punjab and Haryana. If he does not have the solution, then call me for a tea and I will give the solution,” Kejriwal had said after launching AAP’s “Make India No. 1” campaign in Hisar in Haryana, his home state.
Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann was also present in the programme, who had said that he would sure join his Haryana counterpart when the Centre calls a meeting between the two chief ministers to discuss the issue as directed by the Supreme Court.
Badal said that Mann should not attend the meeting with Haryana.
With the Supreme Court keen on getting the dispute amicably settled between the two states with the Centre playing an interlocutor, the issue has once again become a boiling pot with every political party joining the slugfest. The ruling AAP has also joined the chorus against the SYL canal project.
Joining anti-SYL chorus with Badal, senior Congress leader Pratap Singh Bajwa said that the riparian state has a constitutional right on the water. Bajwa cautioned Mann against taking sensitive matters related to the state lightly as it is a question of the life of Punjabis. “The claim by the Central government in the Supreme Court that Punjab is not cooperating with Haryana over the SYL canal dispute should not be misunderstood as the Punjab government being not serious about it,” Bajwa said.
Bajwa further stated that SYL, transfer of Chandigarh and Punjabi-speaking areas and adequate representation in Bhakra Beas Management Board are long-pending issues that should be resolved on a priority basis.
His party colleague and Punjab Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring said that Punjab has entered into a legal battle of “live or die” with Haryana over the issue. “It is a matter of life and death for the farmers of the state, especially the Malwa region, to which Mann himself belongs and the chief minister was enjoying the hospitality of the people of Haryana,” Raja Warring said.