In the backdrop of the Centre’s nod to install gates on the Narmada Dam, BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi struck a chord with people of arid Saurashtra region by offering the Congress to take all the credit of Gujarat’s lifeline Sardar Sarovar Dam and allow the State Government to install gates.
While addressing a huge farmers’ rally after the ground-breaking ceremony of Saurashtra Narmada Avtaran Irrigation Project (SAUNI) in Rajkot, Modi said he would not mind to put plaque of entire Nehru-Gandhi dynasty and refrain from any credit for the Narmada project.
Informing the audience at the famous Race Course ground, about the `10,800-crore project aimed at filling up 115 dams of Saurashtra with Narmada water, which flows into the sea during monsoon, Modi indirectly blamed the Congress for delay in Sardar Sarovar Dam project.
“If the Central Government allows us to install gates on Narmada dam, the BJP’s Gujarat Government will not only mount plaques of Gujarat Congress leaders but also display photos of Nehru-Gandhi dynasty — Jawaharlal Nehru, Indiraji, Rajivbhai, Soniaben, Shehjada (Rahul Gandhi) and others,” said Modi in sardonic way.
Water should reach at parched areas and there should be no politics, he said, adding that even in the past he had often said that Narmada Project is not of a single Chief Minister or Government, it was a collective effort. However, he blamed Pandit Nehru, who laid foundation stone of Sardar Sarovar Project four decades ago, for wrecking the project.
Explaining the importance of floodgate, Modi said that in absence of the gates the dam on River Narmada could store hardly 40 per cent water of its capacity. “During monsoon, instead of utilising residual water to quench thirst of arid areas like Saurashtra and Kutch, the water flows into the sea. If the gates are installed, Gujarat would become more prosperous with green revolution,” he added. He said that even Prime Minister Manmohan Singh agreed on the need of the floodgates.