National

Everyone Disagrees

The Centre forms a weak bridge between the two warring sides

Advertisement

Everyone Disagrees
info_icon
info_icon

The politics that really petrified the Congress was that of Gujarat chief minister Narendra Modi. With his unique style that combines Gujarati pride with rhetoric about development and Hindu machismo, Modi has been able to successfully make the dam a major political issue in his state. His 51-hour fast in Ahmedabad against stopping the work on the dam was primarily aimed at mocking Medha's genuine fast and turning the tables on the Congress. He did not have to try too hard.

The Gujarat unit of the Congress believed that a perception that the UPA government was anti-dam would amount to political suicide in the state where elections are due next year. Says Prithviraj Chauhan, MoS in the PMO: "There is no doubt that the entire state of Gujarat, cutting across party lines, was on one side—arguing for raising the dam height."

Sources in the PMO say Manmohan Singh showed his leadership in sending three ministers to make an on-the-spot assessment of the rehabilitation work in Madhya Pradesh. "The height of the dam was not the central issue, rehabilitation was," says an official, adding, "The prime minister is extremely concerned. He will do everything from his end to speed up rehabilitation." The PM's plan apparently is to set up a committee of eminent citizens to oversee the work. Yet it is hard to see what another committee or even a commission could achieve.

Indeed, the entire issue of rehabilitation is clouded in deceit. Take the situation within the water resources ministry. On the one hand, the current crisis was actually triggered by J. Hari Narayan, secretary, water resources, who also heads the Narmada Control Authority that took the decision to raise the height of the dam. Sources within the ministry now claim he pulled off "a fraud" since all the documentation indicated that rehabilitation was shoddy. Union water resources minister Saifuddin Soz, who had visited Medha several times during her hunger strike urging her to call off her fast, makes it clear that he was kept in the dark about the decision. Although he refuses to engage in a discussion about Congress duplicity, Soz continues to stand by his assessment that rehabilitation exists on paper. "I don't know how they will complete such a huge task in three months," he says. Yet Soz must be aware that the Congress is increasingly trying to put a distance between his report and the party's stance. Explains a minister: "Unfortunately, everyone in the party now feels that the report has come as an inconvenience. I would not blame the PM. The line was dictated by Ahmed Patel who is Sonia Gandhi's closest advisor. We all know there are limits to the powers of this PM."

Typically, the Congress has ended up neither here nor there. On the one hand, Modi has stolen the dam thunder and all that the Congress can attempt is a sorry me-too act. Simultaneously, it has lent an element of pretension to the party's pro-poor claims. One of the most revealing incidents linked to the ongoing Narmada imbroglio was when activist Aruna Roy filed a case against the government under the Right to Information Act for failing to release the ministers' report within 48 hours.

Medha too is very angry with the government. "I ask the PM why he cannot meet me and people whose homes are being made into graveyards in the name of development? He can meet industrialists, even negotiate with terrorists but can't meet people who are following the path of non-violence..." The PMO responds: "Manmohan Singh met Medha before she began her fast. But how can you negotiate with someone who goes on a hunger fast? The PM cannot succumb to such pressure."

Nonetheless, the NBA remains determined to fight to the very end. It plans to keep the focus on the issue by holding a rally for the valley on the lines of a similar one that was organised some years ago and drew international attention. Besides, there will be a "pol khol" agitation to expose the false rehabilitation claims. Finally, if the tide again turns against them, there can be another hunger strike by Medha and her supporters.

Advertisement

Tags

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement

    Advertisement