Delhi gears up for disruption

India's capital was on edge as differences between Haryana and Punjab over water-sharing threatened to spill over into Delhi and Jats warned of a resumption of their stir if their demand for reservation was not met by 31 March. Although it is poll-bound Punjab and Haryana that are scrapping about the construction of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) canal, Delhi has been drawn into the battle because Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal whose Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) is a serious contestant in the Punjab polls due January 2017, has thrown his lot entirely with Punjab in the water-sharing argument the two states have been having for severaldecades.
 

In retaliation Haryana is promising to punish Delhi and is threatening to withdraw water. Added to this is the ongoing agitation by Jats who want reservation in government jobs and educational institutions. They have threatened a statewide stir. In the last round 30 people died and protestors prevented the flow of water to Delhi which bound by Haryana on three sides.

That the renewed stir is a serious and credible threat was clear as Home Minister Rajnath Singhconsulted Haryana Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar on how water, rail and road connectivity could be secured if the Jats refused to be placated. On Thursday, Prime Minister Modi had called both Singh and Khattar and told them he did not want to see a repetition of the February agitation.

A symbolic protest is already on in Jat Bhawan, Rohtak and leaders of the movement told reporters in Chandigarh they were keeping the option of a wider protest open as the government dithers inbringing the Jat reservation bill in the current assembly session.

The government has promised that Jats will either be included in the list of backward classes; or relevant amendments will be introduced in consultation with Central Government. The Haryana government is in a bind as the state cannot cross the 50% cap on reservation and cannot include Jats in the existing BC category.

The government has told the community it will bring the legislation before 31March. Inpreparation of possible escalation, the state government today blocked internet services in Haryana's Rohtak district as a precautionary measure and truncated mobile services.

Rohtak was the epicentre of the February violence. Minister of state Kiren Rijiju said the Centre was ready to provide paramilitary forces if Haryana needed them. The inter-state water sharing dispute between Haryana and Punjab meanwhile showed no indication of receding.

Matters came to a head on Thursday when scuffles brokeout outside the Punjab and Haryana Legislative assemblies (both located in Chandigarh) as MLAs of one state tried to storm the assembly of the other to protest each other's stance on water. Arguments between Haryana and Delhi were loud and fractious as Haryana ministers including Finance Minister Capt Abhimanyu dared Arvind Kejriwal to "get your own canal constructed for carrying Delhi's share of water with your efforts".

"The Delhi Chief Minister should keep in view the interests of the people of Delhi as Delhi wasgetting water through Haryana" he told reporters. On the other hand, DeputyChief Minister Sukhbir Singh Badal told the media in Moga that he was ready to"make any sacrifice" rather than allow a "single drop ofwater" to flow out of the state.