Kar seva goof-up may cost Gujarat dear

Interestingly, the Government began by tacitly supporting the kar seva, but later changed track. It first said the kar seva wouldadversely affect the court case. Next, it said it was not safe because volunteers were likely to fall into the dam. It now says it had to prevent trouble at the dam site.

It had questioned Sharad Joshi’s `sudden love’ for the Narmada project, saying it was politically motivated as it would help Joshi launch the Nationalist Congress Party in Gujarat. Joshi’s argument was they only wanted to drive home the point that water stored in the reservoir can be used in Gujarat even when the project is incomplete, and also that farmers of others states, who came to participate in the kar seva, stood by their compatriots in Gujarat.

Chunibhai Vaidya of Gujarat Lok Samiti, a pro-SSP body, says thanks to the ego of the Chief Minister and others in the government, “we lost the chance to call Medha Patkar’s bluff that the farmers in the country are not with the SSP.” Hasmukh Patel of Sampurna Punarvasvat Samiti, another pro-SSP body, avers, “It is best known to the Government why it opposed the kar sevaand created a totally avoidable controversy.”

“The Government spread lies that there was a Supreme Court hearing on December 2, and thereby created a feeling that the kar seva was unjustified. In fact, there was no hearing at all,” adds Vaidya. “Earlier, the Government supported the kar seva but, maybe for political reasons, it changed track,” says Patel.

Perhaps the Government feared that the Congress would make political capital out of the issue. While some Congress leaders did participate in the kar seva, the Congress, as a party, desisted. So did the Nationalist Congress Party which, the Government suspected, was pulling the strings.