Union Parliamentary Affairs Minister Kiren Rijiju on Saturday, 23 May 2026, invoked Prime Minister Narendra Modi's doctrine of assertive retaliation against Pakistan, declaring that the era of strategic restraint is over and that India now strikes back on enemy soil.

Context

Posting in Hindi, Rijiju wrote: 'ये नया भारत है। इसे जवाब देना आता है।' ('This is the new India. It knows how to respond.') He contrasted the current government's posture with that of earlier administrations, arguing that in the past, Pakistan used water granted by India under treaty arrangements to fuel violence on Indian soil. 'Now India responds by entering the enemy's home,' he wrote, quoting PM Modi's now-familiar formulation: 'Blood and water cannot flow together.'

The post, which included a video, is addressed to a domestic audience and frames military and diplomatic assertiveness as defining features of Modi's governance since 2014.

Policy Backdrop

The phrase 'blood and water cannot flow together' was first publicly articulated by PM Modi after the Uri attack of September 2016, when Indian Army soldiers were killed in a militant strike on an army brigade headquarters in Jammu and Kashmir. Following that attack, India suspended routine meetings of the Indus Waters Treaty Permanent Commission, signalling that water-sharing cooperation would henceforth be linked to Pakistan's conduct on terrorism.

The Indus Waters Treaty, brokered by the World Bank in 1960, divides the six rivers of the Indus basin between the two countries. India controls the eastern rivers; Pakistan relies heavily on the western rivers. Any formal modification or suspension of the treaty would have significant consequences for Pakistan's agricultural economy.

In February 2019, following the Pulwama suicide bombing that killed over 40 Central Reserve Police Force personnel, India conducted airstrikes at Balakot inside Pakistani territory — the first such cross-border air strike since 1971. That action cemented the government's narrative of proactive deterrence, which Rijiju's post now reaffirms.

Stakeholders and Impact

The statement speaks most directly to residents of Jammu and Kashmir and to the families of Indian armed forces personnel who have borne the brunt of cross-border militancy. For them, the government's messaging is one of reassurance: that infiltration and attacks will be met with calibrated force rather than diplomatic restraint alone.

On the diplomatic front, the post reinforces India's position that security normalisation with Pakistan is a prerequisite for any resumption of broader bilateral engagement, including on water issues. It also signals to international stakeholders — including the World Bank, which is a trustee of the Indus Waters Treaty — that New Delhi views the treaty as a lever of statecraft, not merely a technical water-management accord.

What's Next

Observers will watch for any formal government notification regarding a review or modification of the Indus Waters Treaty, which would require a structured legal process under the treaty's dispute-resolution mechanism. The next session of Parliament is also expected to see debate on cross-border terrorism and water diplomacy, particularly if the security situation along the western border remains elevated. Rijiju's post, coming from a senior Cabinet minister, suggests the government intends to keep this assertive framing at the centre of its political and security communication.