The Narmada water may not have flowed in as yet, but Chief Minister Narendra Modi on Sunday ‘‘symbolically’’ dedicated it to the people of Rajkot and Jamnagar at a function organised in Hirapar village, Tankara taluka. Modi said the people of Gujarat, including NRIs, had to be credited for the Narmada project’s success. However, he credited the completion of the Narmada canal and the bringing of its water to the region to the BJP Government.Ironically, the pipeline, which is supposed to be filled with the Narmada water has been filled with water drawn from Macchu-II. This is because the water had only reached Maliya by Friday and the state government, to avoid embarrassment, hurriedly made use of Macchu-II water.Modi spoke of the Gujarati spirit and will power that had converted the Narmada dream into a reality. ‘‘No other state in the country can think of spending Rs 7,000 crore on drinking water alone,’’ he said. He also spoke against the anti-Gujarat lobby, which he said was against the State’s development. ‘‘These people cannot stand development, they are all set to malign us even on the international platform,’’ Modi said.Though speaker after speaker spoke of the BJP’s Bhageerath Prayatna in bringing Narmada water to the two districts in eight months, the Naramada water will only reach the region in a few days time — the five pumping stations along the sub-canal are yet to be completed. Modi, who reached the spot an hour late, symbolically filled the Macchu-II water into pots brought by village women.
