NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, visiting the poll-bound Punjab on Friday, wooed voters there with a promise to abrogate the Indus Waters Treaty, reports said.

Mr 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 Mr 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.

“This is the land of bravery, courage, one that has given great leaders and visionaries,” NDTV quoted him as saying. “This is the land of sacrifice: warriors’ blood and farmers’ sweat.”

Rahul Gandhi also canvassing in the state

Mr Modi said his government had helped and honoured Punjab’s farmers. “You can see how farmers have benefited over the last few years. We have ensured that farmers do not suffer and they get their due share of urea now.

“The farmers of Punjab need not worry about water anymore. We have decided to route the water from the Indus, which currently flows into Pakistan, who do not have the right over this, to the farmers of Punjab, who rightfully deserve it.

Read: India speeding up Indus basin water plan: report

“Punjab’s farmers, India’s farmers will get water from India’s rivers. Punjab is also the land of the brave. So many of you have served or have family in the armed forces.

“We used to only get news of martyrdom. For how long will we let others do harm to us. Should we not give them a befitting reply? Make them pay for their wrongdoing. Terrorism will not be tolerated anymore.”

The prime minister was speaking after Congress vice president Rahul Gandhi launched his three-day visit of Punjab by addressing a rally in Majitha. The assembly polls are scheduled for Feb 4.

The Akali Dal-BJP alliance has ruled the state for the last 10 years and this time, they will face-off against a debutante Aam Aadmi Party along with Congress, their traditional political rival.

According to NDTV, the BJP suffered a setback in the state after cricketer-turned-politician Navjot Singh Sidhu and his wife ended their decade-long association with the party and joined the Congress as their candidates and star campaigners.

Mr Sidhu was sidelined in the 2014 general elections from his Amritsar Lok Sabha constituency to accommodate Finance Minister Arun Jaitley, who lost.

According to the Financial Express, Mr Modi described how his government successfully released most of the money for the implementation of one-rank, one-pension policy for retired soldiers in a short span of time.

“A large number of soldiers in the Indian Army come from Punjab,” the Express said.

“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.”

Published in Dawn January 28th, 2017