Congress Attacks Prime Minister Modi Over Sardar Sarovar Dam Inauguration

The Congress today attacked Prime Minister Narendra Modi over Sardar Sarovar dam inauguration, accusing him of using the project as an "election gimmick".

Congress media in-charge Randeep Surjewala said the Prime Minister is indulging in "misconceived electoral hype, hyperbole and hoopla by yet again inaugurating the Sardar Sarovar Dam. Using the world’s second-largest dam built by the efforts of Congress party and the people of Gujarat, as an electoral gimmick, has become the centrepiece of BJP’s Gujarat Model – for this is the only tangible project that would ameliorate people’s conditions, when actually completed”, he added.

Surjewala said the dam reservoir has water, but it cannot reach the fields of the poor farmers in the absence of the canal network.

Claiming that the BJP and the Modi government have failed the beneficiaries, he said, the Narmada project in Gujarat remains incomplete even though BJP is in power for the last 22 years, out of which Modi was chief minister for 14 years.

The Congress leader said despite stumbling blocks and challenges, it is only the Congress that strived for the completion of Narmada Valley project.

He accused the BJP of being "incompetent and insensitive" and said it has failed the people of Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, Maharashtra and Rajasthan, the beneficiary states. From the laying of the foundation stone by India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru in 1961 up till 1987, when its construction work was stalled for environmental reasons and litigations, there were a multitude of insurmountable road blocks, he said, adding that under leadership of the then prime minister Rajiv Gandhi each blockade was cleared conscientiously and 90 per cent of the work was approved for completion.

Surjewala alleged that there is "rampant corruption" in the Narmada Nigam and funds are being diverted. He claimed CAG, the government auditor, has confirmed it.

"What action have you taken after the exposure of rampant corruption, maladministration and misuse of funds in Narmada Nigam? Why is the BJP shielding the corrupt?" he asked.

The Congress leader said the people of Gujarat are "disillusioned" with the "insensitive suit-boot policies" of the successive BJP governments and the leadership of Prime Minister Modi, which thrives on "full publicity and zero delivery". (PTI)