Requesting the state government to adhere to the Supreme Court order and release 9,000 cusecs of Cauvery water to Tamil Nadu for the next three days, Janata Dal (S) supremo H.D. Deve Gowda on Saturday declared that he would take the plunge into the Cauvery river protest to protect the interest “future generations”.
Mr Gowda told reporters: “The river dispute itself is very old. We are being harassed and forced to accept irrational decisions. This time, too, let us respect the Supreme Court direction at least for three days.”
He appealed to farmer leaders and agitators to cooperate with the state government to allow water to flow, as it will help the state prove its bona fide. The state government can then appeal to the Prime Minister to alter the Cauvery River Authority order. “This was done when late Narasimha Rao was the Prime Minister. A similar situation had cropped up and as chief minister, I was told to release 11 tmcft of water to Tamil Nadu against their demand of 40 tmcft,” he explained, Citing an example on the magnanimity of the state, he said that when the then Madras city faced shortage of drinking water in the mid-eighties, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh together released 15 tmcft of water. Mr Gowda said when Karnataka showed such gestures, the lower riparian state too should reciprocate. Mr Gowda urged Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who is heading the CRA, to send an independent expert team to assess the situation on the ground, as only then could he give a free and fair judgment during the next CRA meeting.
Mr Gowda broke down when he mentioned how MPs from Tamil Nadu protested in Parliament sometime back. When the Centre notified the interim award given by the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal, Mr Gowda tried to raise the Cauvery issue in Parliament. “I was not even allowed by Tamil Nadu MPs and ministers to raise the issue. These are blackmail tactics. For them, Cauvery is a political issue and they do it for their survival. But for me, it is a fight to protect the interests of our future generation who live and depend on Cauvery river,” Mr Gowda said, with tears rolling down his cheeks.
In a choked voice, the former Prime Minister said he would sure take a plunge into Cauvery agitation, and asserted that he was deeply pained by the present generation from Mandya, Hassan, Chamarajanagar, Ramanagar and Mysore districts. He said youngsters are migrating from these areas in large numbers to cities like Hyderabad, Mumbai and other mineral-rich states where they earn pittance. “Once, people from these regions had enough to earn from their land. But because of irrational decisions of the central government, they are forced to migrate. I want to fight to save their future," he said.