Prime Minister Narendra Modi, chairing the National Democratic Alliance (NDA) Parliamentary meeting on Tuesday, said that former PM Jawaharlal Nehru had ‘admitted’ that the Indus Water Treaty with Pakistan bought no benefit to India, according to sources.
PM Modi said that Nehru had partitioned the country twice, once with the Radcliffe line, and another during the treaty, which gave 80 per cent of the river’s water to Pakistan. The agreement was also anti-farmer, said PM Modi.
“Nehru partitioned the country once, and then again. Under the Indus Water Treaty, 80 percent of the water was given to Pakistan. Later, through his secretary, Nehru admitted his mistake, saying that it brought no benefit,” PM Modi said according to sources.
BJP MP Jagdambika Pal, who was present at the meeting, called it a betrayal by Nehru for signing the Indus Water Treaty, saying that the former PM should have taken Parliament’s approval for it.
“The country has been betrayed. If he (Jawaharlal Nehru) were the prime minister in a democratic election, he should have taken the Parliament’s approval for this. Without the trust of the cabinet and the Parliament, he went to Pakistan and came back alone after signing the agreement… This is a betrayal with our farmers,” Pal told ANI.
Hailing the Prime Minister’s remarks, BJP MP Ravi Shankar Prasad criticised the Nehru-led government for giving “Rs 80 crore to Pakistan.”
“We are proud that the Prime Minister stated the facts. Nehru ji not only signed the treaty without cabinet approval or discussion, but also gave Rs 80 crore to them. Whenever a treaty is signed, it is done only after discussion in Parliament,” the BJP leader said.
On August 14, India firmly rejected the recent award issued by the Hague-based Court of Arbitration under the Indus Waters Treaty, citing the court’s lack of jurisdiction, legitimacy, and competence.
“India has never accepted the legality, legitimacy, or competence of the so-called Court of Arbitration. Its pronouncements are therefore without jurisdiction, devoid of legal standing, and have no bearing on India’s rights of utilisation of waters,” Jaiswal said while responding to a question by ANI during a weekly media briefing.
Following the Pahalgam terrorist attack in April, which killed 26 people, India has, in exercise of its rights as a sovereign nation under international law, placed the Indus Waters Treaty (IWT) in abeyance until Pakistan credibly and irrevocably abjures its support for cross-border terrorism.
The Indus Waters Treaty was signed in 1960, following nine years of negotiations between India and Pakistan, with the assistance of the World Bank, which is also a signatory.
The Treaty allocates the Western Rivers (Indus, Jhelum, Chenab) to Pakistan and the eastern rivers (Ravi, Beas, Sutlej) to India.
Meanwhile, at the same meeting the Prime Minister also introduced NDA’s Vice Presidential candidate CP Radhakrishan, calling him as a grassroots leader of from the Other Backward Class (OBC) community.
“He (Radhakrishnan) is a grassroots leader from the OBC community, simple in nature, and does not “play games” in politics,” PM Modi said according to sources.
