Sardar Sarovar Dam is a historical gift to the nation. Politics must be kept at bay
Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s dedication of the country’s highest and Asia’s second largest dam to the nation goes beyond statistical giganticism. It is a full circle metaphor, one that began with Jawaharlal Nehru laying the foundation in 1961 and has become a reality in the Modi era. This arc is of an India in change, a dynamic leap toward self-sufficiency in resource management and a milestone feat of engineering and execution. It is also a story of a democracy that re-evaluates itself, one that has accommodated dissent, activism, dialogue on environmental concerns, rights of displaced people and territorial rehabilitation and complied with the judiciary’s checks and balances. Most importantly, it is an example of national will, the kind that can get a mega project done despite the relay race of batons changing power. Finally, it is above politics. This is the reason why the Congress staking claim on the dam legacy with retrospective effect and clouding a moment of national pride with petty tirades is in bad taste. It has accused the BJP of creaming the credit of what was essentially a “Congress” dream and using it as an election plank in Gujarat, without so much as attempting to develop a feeder canal network that will take the dam water to the arid extremities of the State. The party should remember that Modi as Chief Minister and Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan had continued with a Congress legacy and helped implement it on the ground, facing the barrage of the Medha Patkar-led Narmada Bachao Andolan’s brakes over submergence and loss of livelihood, the denudation of fertile lands, resettlement and rehabilitation of dam evacuees. All this when the UPA was at the Centre. They had to face their immediate constituency of voters along the dam stretch on the troublesome issues of land acquisition, compensation and adjusting the heights of the reservoir. Modi, in particular, had to arrange funds from private investors when the World Bank withdrew on the basis of Patkar’s campaign. Both won mandates, not because of the dam or optics but because of their administrative performance. Particularly for Modi, the transformative effects of pushing a big infrastructural overhaul have elevated him for the nation’s top job. Beyond the churlishness, the Congress should work out a sound political strategy to attempt a comeback, now that some Patidars, too, have thrown their weight with the Prime Minister as he inaugurated the project. If the Congress wants to snap the BJP’s longevity in the State, it would have to invest itself in not only understanding but addressing its deep-rooted concerns, rather than foisting dissenting groups as a credible alternative. Even Patidar leader Hardik Patel seems to be drifting away from its disarrayed state unit.
let’s not miss the big picture. The Sardar Sarovar is the last of India’s big dams, executed only because it impacts the macro fortunes of India’s arid west, covering Gujarat, parts of Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. It will harness the river waters for their agricultural sustenance and stop their primal dependence on fickle nature and climate change. Besides, the canals can usher in a micro-waterway network that can be used for transport and logistics purposes. This will further strengthen subsidiary economic development and raise our critical human development index.