Modi146;s best friend: Soz

UPA8217;s water minister is bad news for Narmada, for PM and for Congress

Let8217;s look at the brighter side8212;Saifuddin Soz is not the final arbiter on the Narmada issue. What would have happened if he was, was clear on Saturday when, following a review committee meeting that ended in a tie, the water resources minister forgot every principle of responsible ministerial conduct and said he is recommending work on the dam be stopped. Since the committee meeting produced a stalemate and since his being ex officio chairman gives him no extra decision-making power and since he was passing the buck to the Prime Minister anyway, Soz should have not privileged his view. If nothing else, it put the Prime Minister in a peculiar situation8212;one of his ministers asks him to take a call but at the same time says what should be done.

Collective responsibility is something more than one minister in this government has treated with contempt. Arjun Singh8217;s quota extension announcement is another example, and he, too, had sought to involve the Prime Minister in a most unprepossessing manner. Manmohan Singh and Sonia Gandhi must take note of this. A government can8217;t properly function if the lines of authority can be so cavalierly crossed.

Neither should the government depend on the Supreme Court for every major issue. That the court is hearing a Narmada-related matter today8212;the plaintiffs are four dozen-odd families affected by the dam8212;has created the expectation that the bench will take in the larger question: whether or not construction should be stopped. But the court has already spoken, the mechanisms are already there and the schedule for raising the dam8217;s height is already worked out. Are we to assume that the Government of India can8217;t take a decision without a crutch?

Form dictates we direct this question to Manmohan Singh. But he has our full sympathy. He was quoted by Congress and BJP MPs on Sunday as saying work on the dam won8217;t be stopped. That shows, unsurprisingly, Dr Singh knows what the issue is. It also shows he knows better than many of his colleagues the price the Congress has to pay in the Narmada states if the government gets identified with stop-the-dam causerati. The Gujarat Congress8217;s reaction should tell every Delhi-based party strategist what the consequences could be. Narendra Modi is already winning every election in sight. He8217;s loving every minute of Central vacillation. And he8217;s surely delighted that Saifuddin Soz is the UPA8217;s water minister.