Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said that India will not allow its share of water to flow into Pakistan.

Addressing a rally in poll-bound Haryana’s Charki Dadri, PM Modi said that for 70 years, the water which belonged to India and the farmers of Haryana flowed to Pakistan and added that he will not allow it any further.

Advertisement

“For 70 years, the water which belongs to India and the farmers of Haryana flowed to Pakistan. Modi will stop this water (from flowing into Pakistan) and bring to your houses,” the Prime Minister said.

Modi further said that the farmers of Haryana and Rajasthan have the rights over the water that is flowing to Pakistan and was not being stopped by earlier Indian governments.

“Modi aapki ladai ladega (Modi will fight your battle),” he assured the people at the rally.

Earlier in May, Union Minister Nitin Gadkari had said that India is no longer bound to follow the Indus Water Treaty as the peaceful relations and friendship with Pakistan have “completely vanished”.

He said India does not want to stop the flow of water from the three rivers into Pakistan but is now considering the move as Pakistan is not acting against terrorism.

He further said that India has started studying the matter internally and that the water will be diverted to Haryana, Punjab and Rajasthan.

In a major decision aimed at ‘choking’ Pakistan after the dastardly 14 February Pulwama terror attack carried out by the Jaish-e-Mohammad, India had in February announced that it will divert its share of unutilised water from the eastern rivers that flow into the neighbouring country.

The Indus Water Treaty was signed on 19 September 1960 by then Indian Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and Pakistani President Ayub Khan.

According to the treaty, Pakistan gets 80 per cent access to the water of the three of India’s ‘western’ rivers — the Indus, the Chenab and the Jhelum – and India got the three ‘eastern’ rivers – the Beas, the Ravi and the Sutlej – which have a flow of 33 million acre-feet (MAF).

In November 2018, India had decided to fast-track three projects on the ‘eastern’ rivers to arrest the unutilised water of its share under the bilateral treaty with Pakistan.

Meanwhile, Haryana is set to go polls on October 21 and the results will be declared on October 24.