Not a dispute but loot against Punjab: Sukhbir to PM Modi

Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD) president Sukhbir Singh Badal has in a letter to Prime Minister Narendra Modi said the sharing of river waters is not a dispute but a case of “brazen loot against the people of the patriotic border state”.

The SAD chief “cautioned the country that not removing the reasons of alienation of Punjabis can push us back towards the conditions that afflicted us all for over two decades”.

In his letter, Badal has requested the PM to end the reasons that have caused so much avoidable misery in the past. “Removing the reasons of (Punjab’s just grievances) and preventing the recurrence of the painful past needs to be a national priority. On river waters issue, the only way to achieve that is to ensure justice to my state on exactly the principles applied in interstate disputes all over the country. Punjabis demand no favours, they only seek justice,” said Sukhbir.

He lashed out at the Punjab Chief Minister, saying his and his party’s repeated promises to “irrigate every field in Haryana and Rajasthan with Punjab’s river waters” weakens Punjab’s genuine case that it has not a single drop of water to spare.

“The CM is playing with fire with his duplicity, not realising the gravity of the issue. He must put an end to this double speak,” Sukhbir added.

Punjab