Anant Nag boldly stated his views on this matter.
Anant Nag accused Tamil Nadu of triggering the Cauvery row again.
Social media users have expressed their opinions over the ongoing conflict between Tamil Nadu and Karnataka regarding the share of Cauvery River water. Prominent actors from the Kannada film and TV industry have also spoken up about this water-sharing dispute. This came after the Cauvery Water Management Authority (CWMA) had asked Karnataka to continue releasing 5,000 cusecs of water to Tamil Nadu for another 15 days.
Veteran actor Anant Nag, speaking with a media portal recently, has accused Tamil Nadu of triggering the Cauvery row again, especially when rain has been scarce in Karnataka this year. He added that for several decades, either DMK or the AIADMK governments have constantly brought up the Cauvery River water dispute by giving the impression to its people that “Karnataka has not released enough water to the state.” He blamed the British Raj for starting the controversy by allocating more water to Tamil Nadu. He noted that they (the Karnataka government) have to take a militant stance.
“Karnataka is being misunderstood by them as if it is Pakistan or Sri Lanka. The issue is getting escalated every now and then. They do not come forward for talks but unitedly approach the Central government and get things done. The water they ask for is for agricultural and industrial purposes while Karnataka is facing scarcity of drinking water,” he added.
On Wednesday, actor Kiccha Sudeep took to Twitter and demanded that experts should formulate a strategy immediately to solve this dispute. In the tweet in Kannada, he wrote: “Friends, Our Cauvery is our right. I believe that the government which has won with so much consensus will not abandon the people who believe in Cauvery. I demand that the experts formulate a strategy immediately and give justice. I also have my voice in the land-water-language struggle. May Mother Kaveri protect Karunadu.”
ಸ್ನೇಹಿತರೆನಮ್ಮ ಕಾವೇರಿ ನಮ್ಮ ಹಕ್ಕು . ಅಷ್ಟು ಒಮ್ಮತದಿಂದ ಗೆಲ್ಲಿಸಿರುವ ಸರ್ಕಾರ ಕಾವೇರಿಯನ್ನೇ ನಂಬಿರುವ ಜನರನ್ನು ಕೈಬಿಡುವುದಿಲ್ಲ ಎಂದು ನಾನು ನಂಬಿದ್ದೇನೆ . ಈ ಕೂಡಲೇ ತಜ್ಞರು ಕಾರ್ಯತಂತ್ರ ರೂಪಿಸಿ ನ್ಯಾಯ ನೀಡಲಿ ಎಂದು ಒತ್ತಾಯಿಸುತ್ತೇನೆ . ನೆಲ -ಜಲ -ಭಾಷೆಯ ಹೋರಾಟದಲ್ಲಿ ನನ್ನ ಧ್ವನಿಯೂ ಇದೆ.ಕಾವೇರಿ ತಾಯಿ ಕರುನಾಡನ್ನು ಕಾಪಾಡಲಿ.— Kichcha Sudeepa (@KicchaSudeep) September 20, 2023
The decade-old Cauvery water dispute between the two states has flared up once again in the wake of the drought caused by a weak monsoon. Tamil Nadu has been demanding Karnataka to release more water, but the latter has maintained it will not be able to do so due to the drought situation.
Amid the tension between the two states over the water dispute, the Supreme Court on Thursday refused to intervene either in favour of Karnataka or Tamil Nadu. The apex court said that it relied on the combined decision of expertise of the Cauvery Water Regulation Committee and CWMA on managing the water sharing between the two states.
The court also noted that CWRC and CWMA have a meeting every 15 days to review the water flow with due regard to the distress faced by both states. The three-judge bench said that fixing the daily water flow from Karnataka to Tamil Nadu at 5,000 cusecs was neither “extraneous” nor “irrelevant”.
The dispute began in 1974 when Karnataka as the upper riparian state diverted water without Tamil Nadu’s consent. The case was upheld in the SC after the Cauvery Water Disputes Tribunal (CWDT) finalised the water-sharing formula in 2007.
