In a democratic fight within one nation nobody is defeated. People win. Mullaperiyar height is raised and its effect will be higher pressure on the dam which may give in. Then who wins. The Indian masses perish. India is defeated. Those with a national vision weep when India dies and India is defeated. It is myopic to say that Tamil Nadu won or Kerala lost. Why not you Tamils of Rajaji and Satyamurthi who were national wonders so too Thunchathu Ramanujan Ezhuthachan, Adi Sankaran, Vallathol, and Narayana Guru of Kerala?
Justice has not won or lost. We are cultured people with a patriotic vision. After all, judges are humans and may err. Judges are not infallible. Humanity is greater than legality. Defeat and victory are charismatic words which do not belong to brothers residing in neighbouring states. When Gandhi was shot who lost, the nation not the Mahatma. Similarly the five humans who sat on the Bench and pronounced verdict did not win or lose. They pronounced. They are not infallible. If the raised dam collapses, a great tragedy will happen in India.
Let us be statesman, not little politicians. Mullaperiyar is not a theatre of war. It blossoms to fertilise. Belligerency is not statesmanship. Indians are statesmen. Have not dams in the past burst contrary to the scientist’s expectation? After all, wisdom consists in humanity not arrogance.
Therefore no Tamil citizen or man in power should boast of victory. Tomorrow if the dam bursts, we will be in tears and I will share with them their tears. Even logic supports Kerala. India will not collapse by an extra dam but it may, if the height of the dam is raised contrary to the laws of nature of which judges are not masters. Judges are great but not God. To wear robes does not make you avathars three or five or nem con.
Every river is sacred and a national asset. The Ganga and the Krishna belonged to the nation as its asset. The Ganga and the Krishna belonged to the Nation and not to the territories over which they flow. This is the right national perspective of the river wealth of a country. We really want to have a national plan for all the rivers of India devoted to the country’s entire progress.
This nation will be true to its rivers and their role only when the great engineers prepare a master plan of the water resources of the country and a series of developmental project whereby floods will be forbidden. Deserts will be fertile and every drop of water from heaven will be utilized for the benefit of humanity. Our ancients worshipped all the rivers as Varuna, since they are a blessing for not one province or the other but for India that is Bharat. Godavari, Krishna and Periyar in the South and Ganga, Yamuna and Saraswathi in the North link them up by engineering skill. You thereby banish flood and desert and make the waters of India a divine wonder which will ensure prosperity and drive out poverty and make India win on Earth. Let us not plan little dams and rivers and fight over them. Let our vision be large which will make India great and an instrument of prosperity as a heritage for posterity. Jai Hind!