SYL issued closed forever when Badal GOvt. returned land to original owners
Not a Single drop of water to spare: SAD President
Chandigarh August 19, 2020: SAD president and former Deputy Chief Minister (Sardar) Sukhbir Singh Badal today warned the Punjab Chief Minister Captain Amarinder Singh against “compromising on Punjab’s consistent and principled stand on the Riparian Principle with regard to the unsustainable demand for distribution of Punjab’s river waters.”
The Akali leader said that the SYL issue stood closed forever after S Parkash Singh Badal led government had returned the acquired land to its original owner farmers.
The SAD President also said that Amarinder should have categorically told the Union Water Resources Minister Mr Gajendra Singh Shekhawat that massive injustice had been done to Punjab by successive Congress governments especially by Indira Gandhi in looting Punjab’s waters and giving these unjustly to Rajasthan and Haryana. “Congress Chief Minister Darbara Singh had signed on Punjab’s death warrants. When told by Indira Gandhi to choose between his chair as CM and Punjab’s rights on river waters, Darbara Singh chose his chair. Punjabis are now paying with their lives the price for the greed of the Congress leaders like Darbara Singh.”
The Akali leader said that building a canal without determining the quantum of water, if any, to flow through it is a ‘patently absurd idea’ . “Never in human history has a canal ever been built without first ascertaining the availability of the water. That is literally putting the cart before the horse and the people of Punjab are totally at a loss to understand why such an absolutely irrational and unprecedented demand was being made at all.“
Mr Badal reiterated that Punjabis and SAD will never accept the construction of the SYL nor allow it to be built.
Mr Badal said that Amarinder’s arguments in yesterday’s meeting with the Haryana CM have surprised the Punjabis as these constitute a departure from the our known and consistent position on Riparian Principle.
The former Deputy CM said that Punjab’s claim on river waters “is based on the nationally and internationally accepted Riparian Principle. The issue of Yamuna waters is only an argument against Haryana’s stand . We just want that we must not be robbed of our own river waters and we don’t demand Yamuna waters because we stick to the Riparian principle “ What the Punjab CM should have told the Haryana counterpart is that just as Punjab doesn’t demand any share in non-Punjab rivers, so too should Haryana and Rajasthan not be stubborn in making unreasonable demands on Punjab’s river waters,” said Mr Badal in a statement here this afternoon.
He asked the Punjab CM to immediately correct the dangerous distortion he has introduced in Punjab’s strong case with his poor articulation of the Yamuna argument or “he would have to face strong resistance from the people led by the SAD .”
Mr Badal said that Amarinder’ act of dilution was dictated by the memory of his handing over the shovel to Indira Gandhi to start the digging of the SYL canal at Kapoori. “ Amarinder had in fact led the campaign for building SYL for Haryana. When he was handing a silver shovel to Indira Gandhi, Akali leaders were protesting and being shoved into police vans to be put behind bars. We were called anti-national for demanding our own water,”, “ said Sardar Sukhbir Singh Badal
Mr Badal expressed his fears that Amarinder’s bold words do not cover his dilution of Punjab’s stand.
The former Deputy CM also lashed out at Amarinder for running away from facing the Vidhan Sabha when Punjabis were facing such crucial issues. “Here was the strongest case for the people’s representatives to speak in one voice on the vital interests of the state. But by curtailing the Assembly Session to just a single day, Captain has denied the opportunity to the people to send a strong message to the rest of the nation on the dangers implicit in any move towards constructing the so-called SYL canal.