Assam Chief Minister Himanta Biswa Sarma on Saturday delivered a stinging critique of the Indus Waters Treaty, branding the 1960 agreement signed by former Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru as a monumental "strategic catastrophe" that compromised India's long-term national interests.
Reacting to the central government’s decision to suspend the treaty, Sarma took to social media platform X to voice his views, asserting that the treaty had crippled India's rightful access to vital water resources and empowered Pakistan at India's expense for decades.
"Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru’s signing of the Indus Waters Treaty in 1960 stands as one of the gravest strategic blunders in India's history," Sarma declared.
He emphasised that the terms of the treaty left India with only nominal rights over the Ravi, Beas, and Sutlej rivers, while ceding the lion’s share — the Indus, Jhelum, and Chenab rivers — to Pakistan. This allocation, he said, handed Pakistan approximately 135 million acre-feet (MAF) of water annually, while India was restricted to a mere 33 MAF.
Sarma did not shy away from tying the outdated agreement to present-day security threats, including the recent terror attack in Pahalgam, where 26 lives were lost. He hailed the Union government’s decision to suspend the treaty as a "seismic shift" in India’s posture toward cross-border aggression.
"Nehru’s misplaced obsession with earning international validation came at an unforgivable cost—weakening India’s strategic and agricultural strength on its own soil," Sarma asserted.
He praised Prime Minister Modi’s bold move to dismantle what he termed a "historic injustice," stating: "By initiating India’s withdrawal from the treaty, Prime Minister Modi has reclaimed India’s sovereign rights over its rivers, sending an unambiguous message: India will no longer respond to terror and hostility with spineless appeasement."
Sarma further pointed out that Pakistan’s economy, heavily dependent on Indus waters for over 75 percent of its agriculture, would suffer a devastating blow.
"This decision strikes at the very heart of Pakistan’s fragile economy," he said, adding, “It corrects a betrayal that chained India's rightful control for over six decades."
Concluding his statement, Sarma said, "Modi’s action symbolises the rise of a new, assertive India—one that defends its interests unapologetically, undeterred by old diplomatic burdens."
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