'India's water was going to another country, now it will stop': PM Modi’s dig at Pakistan over Indus Treaty

PM Narendra Modi

Addressing ABP Networks's India@2047 Summit, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Monday categorically stated that until now India was being disadvantaged as water from a key river was flowing into another nation, thereby disadvantaging India. Without mentioning Pakistan, the PM said unlike in the past New Delhi will no longer bear the brunt of an unequal treaty.

For decades, our rivers were used as a centre for tensions and rifts. But our country launched initiatives to link them. There are a lot of discussions on water in the media. Earlier, India's water was being given to others. Now India's water will flow for the country's benefit; it will stop for India's interests and be used for the country, remarked PM Modi.

Ties between the two neighbouring countries plummeted following the April 22 Pahalgam terror attack that killed 26 people, mostly tourists. India, among other punitive actions, announced that it is putting in abeyance the 1960 accord, which governs water sharing between the two countries.

Earlier on April 24, Prime Minister Narendra Modi vowed to punish the terrorists involved in the Pahalgam terror attack and their backers. In a high-level meeting with the top defence brass on April 29, Modi asserted that the armed forces have “complete operational freedom" to decide on the mode, targets and timing of India’s response to the terror attack.

The PM also took a dig at the previous Congress regimes saying, "To take big decisions and achieve big goals, it is important to hold national interest and believe in the country’s capabilities. Unfortunately, for decades there was an opposite current that harmed the nation. For every decision made earlier, considerations were made as to what the world and vote bank will think. Will we be able to hold on to power? Will the vote bank move away? For selfish interests, major reforms were delayed. No country can progress this way. The only way a country progresses is to follow nation first policy".