Haryana's main opposition Indian National Lok Dal (INLD) on Saturday started a 'Jan Adhikar Yatra' from Kurukshetra on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal and other issues.
The INLD wants to consolidate its position in the state ahead of next year's Lok Sabha and state assembly polls.
The party recently saw a split after its national president Om Prakash Chautala's elder son Ajay Singh Chautala and two of his sons were expelled. Ajay later announced that he would float his own political party.
After the 'Jan Adhikar Yatra' started from Jyotisar, Kurukshetra, leader of opposition Abhay Singh Chautala, gave a clarion call to the people of Haryana to launch a decisive struggle on the SYL issue.
Abhay said when all the legal hurdles have been removed in giving Haryana its share of river water through the SYL canal, "the BJP government in Delhi and Haryana is finding new excuses to deprive the farmers of the state of their legitimate rights".
Reiterating that the SYL canal was vital to the existence and sustenance of Haryana, Abhay said, in its absence, Haryana was facing a catastrophic future since it was facing the threat of parched lands by losing groundwater too in the absence of river water.
In this context, Abhay said that the Dadupur-Nalvi canal too was important as it was also designed to not only irrigate the lands of Yamunanagar, Ambala and Kurukshetra, but also recharge the groundwater.
"By scrapping this project, the BJP has shown its indifference to farmers in particular and people in general since both south Haryana and north Haryana face the threat of slipping into water-deficient areas," he said.
Hitting out at the BJP government in Haryana, he alleged that it had failed on all fronts.
Abhay said through the yatra, the INLD would make the people aware of "failures" of the present BJP regime on various fronts.
Emphasising that the right to employment was integral to human dignity, Abhay said that the INLD was committed to its promise to the youth regarding employment and unemployment allowance.
He said if the INLD came to power in Haryana, it will fulfil its promises of providing affordable medical facilities, loan waiver to farmers, implementation of recommendations of Swaminathan Commission report and scrapping of the "exploitative" Pradhan Mantri Fasal Bima Yojna to provide relief to those farmers who suffer losses due to natural calamities.
He also promised to improve the school education, so that the poor have access to good education.
Prakash Bharati, state president of the Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP), an ally of the INLD, claimed that the electoral alliance between the two parties was rock-solid and that it would sweep the forthcoming Lok Sabha and assembly elections.
