Tags:
Journalism of Courage
The Parkash Singh Badal-Amarinder Singh face-off is a fixture on Punjab8217;s political scene. Therefore, the loud support offered by Badal to his bete noire8217;s ill-conceived push to assert Punjab8217;s monopoly over the waters of the Beas, Sutlej and Ravi was intriguing to many. That new found friendship seems to be wilting before it could fully blossom. Badal has just made it known that he will not countenance any 8216;8216;dilution8217;8217; of the 8216;8216;spirit8217;8217; of the Punjab Termination of Agreements Act 2004. He believes that Amarinder Singh may be 8216;8216;succumbing8217;8217; to the Congress high command8217;s pressure to water down his stance. He has warned he will not tolerate it.
This is precisely what the many critics of this mean-spirited law had anticipated and feared. The Act is not just bad in law 8212; it unilaterally unravels an agreement between three states and the Centre. It also provides a new pretext for extremely parochial politics. What we are witnessing in Punjab today is competitive water politics, with the two main parties in the state vying to appear more regional than the other. Given the state8217;s turbulent history 8212; the halcyon 8217;80s cannot have receded from public memory 8212; the danger is especially manifest. In today8217;s environment when everyone profits from being part of a larger world, the benefits of this kind of inward-looking politics are severely limited, and in fact debilitating.
