In a post on X, Dubey described the agreements as a “dark chapter” in Congress’s history and claimed that water from key rivers was shared with Bangladesh at the cost of India’s own needs.
“On this very day, May 30, 1982, then-Prime Minister Indira Gandhi had given renewed consent for the sharing of the Ganga River with a Bangladeshi delegation. In 1976, an agreement had been consented to by Indira ji, which was implemented in 1977 for only 5 years. Renewed agreements were then made by Indira ji with Bangladeshi President General Ershad in 1982, and later by Rajiv Gandhi ji in 1985. In 1982, for the first time, we also divided the Teesta River‘s water equally, half and half,” Dubey said.
The BJP MP alleged that while farmers in Bihar, Jharkhand and Uttar Pradesh faced water shortages, significant river water was being shared with Bangladesh.
“Farmers in Bihar, Jharkhand, and Uttar Pradesh are committing suicide without water; silt has accumulated in the Ganga, but the water goes to Bangladesh? The Teesta River is the lifeline of Sikkim–we could generate electricity and irrigation, but the water goes to Bangladesh? The Brahmaputra is the lifeline of Assam and Bengal, but the water goes to Bangladesh?” he said.
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Targeting the Congress further, Dubey alleged that the party prioritised vote-bank politics over national interests.”For the sake of vote banks, bringing in Bangladeshi infiltrators and giving shelter to India’s adversaries–in exchange, “Bangladesh Zindabad” is Congress’s guiding principle,” he said.
Dubey’s remarks referred to water-sharing arrangements between India and Bangladesh concerning the Ganga and Teesta rivers. In October 1982, Prime Minister Indira Gandhi and Bangladesh’s then leader Lieutenant General HM Ershad formalised a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on the sharing of Ganga waters at Farakka after the expiry of the 1977 agreement.
The 1982 understanding established an interim framework for equitable sharing of water available at Farakka while both countries worked towards a long-term solution to augment river flows. The agreement recognised that inadequate water flow imposed challenges on both nations and called for further technical studies through the Joint Rivers Commission.
Separately, discussions on the Teesta River led to an ad hoc arrangement in 1983 under which India was to receive 39 per cent of the river’s flow, Bangladesh 36 per cent, while the remaining 25 per cent remained unallocated pending further scientific studies.
