No role in Gang Canal event, it was personal function: BJP

The BJP on Friday distanced itself from the now-cancelled Ferozepur programme marking 100 years of the Gang Canal, with state party chief Sunil Jakhar saying it was a “personal event” and not an official party function.

The event was cancelled on Thursday after some Punjab BJP leaders reportedly told the central party leadership that the sharing of riverwaters was an emotive issue in the state and farmers had been up in arms in the past against the water supply to Rajasthan through the canal.

Jakhar said the party had no role in organising the event. “The Punjab BJP is committed to safeguarding interests of Punjab. No individual will be permitted to use the party platform for anything that hurts Punjabi sentiments,” Jakhar added.

According to party sources, Jakhar had alerted the BJP’s national leadership about the sensitivity of the issue. Several senior leaders from Punjab also spoke directly to party national general secretary BL Santosh, urging him to stop the programme.

Late Thursday evening, while on his way from the Amritsar airport to Ferozepur, Union Minister Arjun Ram Meghwal received calls from the Prime Minister’s Office and the party high command asking him to return to Delhi immediately, according to a source. He cancelled the visit and returned.

‘Unnecessary row created’

Ferozepur BJP leader Rana Gurmeet Singh Sodhi said an unnecessary controversy was created over the issue.

“Meghwal ji only wanted to perform a puja at the canal head to thank Punjabis. Nothing political was planned,” Sodhi claimed.

“It was a thanksgiving function, not a provocative one,” he added.

The Gang Canal, the foundation stone for which was laid in 1925, takes water from the Sutlej in Punjab to Rajasthan to irrigate large tracts of farmland.

The Congress, which is Punjab’s main Opposition, was quick to slam the celebrations as a blatant display of the BJP’s disregard for Punjab’s woes.

Leader of the Opposition in the state Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa and state Congress chief Amarinder Singh Raja Warring had criticised the event. Bajwa branded the event “insensitive and provocative” and described the Gang Canal as a “British-era reward to Bikaner’s Maharaja at Punjab’s expense”.

Subdued puja

abohar/ chandigarh: Despite the cancellation of the main event, a quiet puja was performed at the canal headworks in Hussainiwala on Friday morning by a small group of people from Bikaner, a source said. No political leader from Punjab or Rajasthan was present.

Meanwhile, Union Law Minister and Bikaner BJP MP Arjun Ram Meghwal attended a programme making 100 years of the canal near Sriganganagar.

While narrating the story of Maharaja Ganga Singh of Bikaner, during whose time the construction of the canal began, Meghwal presented Bollywood song “Sau Saal Pehle Mujhe Tum Se Pyar Tha” sung by Lata Mangeshkar and Mohd Rafi for Dev Anand and Asha Parekh in “Jab Pyar Kisi Se Hota Hai”.

Meghwal presented the song with the permission of Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma and jokingly remarked that the CM often asked him to sing a song on such occasions.