NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visiting the poll-bound Punjab on Friday, gained support from voters there with a promise to annul the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan, reports said.
Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has been in a 10-year ruling coalition with the Sikh Akali Dal, and opinion polls say both are faring poorly with Aam Aadmi Party the biggest winner.
The NDTV and Financial Express reported that Modi wooed “hardy and giving Punjabis” in Jallandhar with references to a disputed surgical strike that India said its troops carried out inside Azad Kashmir in September last year, and which Pakistan denied.
“PM Modi shared how the entire state was happy when Indian Army carried out surgical strikes on terror launch pads in [Azad Kashmir] in September 2016.
“For farmers of the state, PM Modi once again reiterated his government’s ‘big’ decision to repeal the Indus Waters Treaty with Pakistan and bring the water of the river for farmers in Punjab.”
