Saturday, March 29, 2025
New Delhi, July 30, 2025 — Prime Minister Narendra Modi launched a sharp attack on India’s first Prime Minister, Jawaharlal Nehru, in the Lok Sabha on Tuesday, calling the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT) with Pakistan a “historic mistake” that has cost India dearly. Modi said the treaty handed over control of 80% of the Indus river system’s water to Pakistan, leaving India with only 20%, and imposed harsh restrictions that even barred India from removing silt from its dams.
Participating in a 19-hour-long debate on Operation Sindoor, the Prime Minister declared, “The Indus Water Treaty was Nehru’s biggest blunder. It hurt India’s farmers, led to interstate water disputes, and deprived states like Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, and Delhi of their fair share of water.”
Modi accused successive Congress governments of failing to amend Nehru’s error, stating that the treaty included bizarre conditions—such as welding dam gates shut to ensure India could not even accidentally open them. “When you build a dam, you must desilt it to maintain storage capacity. But Nehru accepted Pakistan’s condition that we wouldn’t remove silt. As a result, the storage capacity of major dams like Baglihar and Salal in Jammu & Kashmir dropped to just 2-3% because their gates remained sealed for 60 years,” Modi said.
Following the April 23, 2025 Pahalgam terror attack, India formally suspended the Indus Water Treaty. Modi reiterated in Parliament, “Blood and water cannot flow together. That’s why we have suspended this treaty in the national and farmers’ interest.”
India has now begun desilting its dams and planning canal systems to distribute water to drought-prone states like Rajasthan and Gujarat. Modi affirmed that the country is reclaiming control over its water resources and correcting what he called “Nehru’s misplaced benevolence.”
Signed in Karachi in 1960 by Nehru and Pakistan’s then-President Ayub Khan under World Bank mediation, the Indus Water Treaty gave India control over the eastern rivers—Beas, Ravi, and Sutlej—with an annual flow of 33 million acre-feet, while Pakistan retained the western rivers—Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab—carrying 135 million acre-feet. While hailed globally as a model of water-sharing, many in India have criticized it as lopsided and harmful to national interests.
Modi emphasized, “This treaty limited India’s use of its own water, harming power generation and irrigation potential. It also struck at our cultural and historical identity, because the Indus is central to India’s civilization.”
Modi further attacked Congress for compromising national security since independence. Referring to the 1971 Indo-Pak war, he said, “We had 93,000 Pakistani prisoners of war and occupied thousands of kilometers of territory. Had the leadership then shown vision, we could’ve reclaimed Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK). That opportunity was wasted.”
He concluded with a direct challenge: “Those asking why PoK hasn’t been taken back should first answer who allowed Pakistan to take it in the first place.”
Slamming the Congress party’s legacy, Modi said, “Every time I mention Nehru, Congress and its ecosystem erupt. The truth is, Congress never had a strategic view of national security, and it still doesn’t.”
