We’ll stop India’s water from flowing into Pakistan: PM Modi

CHARKHI DADRI (HARYANA): Canvassing for wrestler Babita Phogat, the Bharatiya Janata Party candidate from Dadri assembly constituency, Prime Minister Narendra Modi on Tuesday said India would not allow its water to flow to Pakistan.

“For 70 years, the water which belongs to India and the farmers of Haryana flowed to Pakistan. Modi will stop this water (from flowing into Pakistan) and bring to your houses,” the Prime Minister said in an election meeting, the second in two days, here.

He said the farmers of Haryana and Rajasthan have the rights over the water that is flowing to Pakistan and was not being stopped by earlier Indian governments.

“Modi aapki ladai ladega (Modi will fight your battle),” he told the gathering.

In a lighter vein, Modi said that the Chinese premier Xi Jinping has seen the movie based on Babita Phogat and her father.

Modi said he got to know this during last week’s visit by Xi to Mamallapuram in Tamil Nadu to attend the second India-China informal summit. “During an informal meeting, Chinese president Xi Jinping told me he has seen the Dangal movie and it made me proud,” he said at a rally here.

“Mahre Choree Choroon Say Kam Hey Ke (Are our girls any less than the boys)?” Modi asked in Haryanvi.

Babita Phogat became a household name after Dangal, a 2016 film about the struggle of her father and noted wrestling coach Mahavir Singh Phogat to train her and her sister Geeta, became a runaway hit.

The 29-year-old BJP candidate from the Dadri assembly seat is pitted against seasoned politicians like Satpal Sangwan of the Jannayak Janta Party (JJP) and Nirpender Singh Sangwan of the Congress. Both have won this seat earlier, by margins of less than 2,000 votes.

Praising chief minister Manohar Lal Khattar, Modi said: ‘Beti Bachao Beti Padhao’ campaign would not have been effective without the support of Haryana villages.

He said this Diwali should be dedicated to “our daughters”.

“We will have two types of Diwali this time. A diya (earthen lamp) Diwali and a kamal (lotus) Diwali. We should dedicate this Diwali to our daughters and celebrate their achievements.”

Elections to the 90-member Haryana assembly will be held on October 21 along with 288member Maharashtra Assembly. The counting of votes is on October 24.