Separated by geographical and political boundaries, Punjab and Haryana will be virtually re-united by religious fervour for the first time after separation 53 years back.
Making the Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s one-day “special” session to commemorate 550th birth anniversary of Guru Nanak Dev “out-of-the-ordinary”, the legislatures of the two sister States will sit in the same Assembly hall — for the first time in the recallable history after the reorganisation of Punjab in 1966.
Notably, the Vidhan Bhawan building is common for both Haryana and Punjab having their separate chambers for their respective legislative assemblies. Before Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, the building housed the Legislative Assembly and the Legislative Council of Joint Punjab (Punjab, Haryana and Himachal).
After Punjab’s re-organisation in 1966, Himachal was made a separate State with its capital at Shimla, while Haryana and Punjab had to keep their capital at Chandigarh which was declared as the Union Territory.
While Haryana, being a small State, got the chamber earlier used by the Punjab Legislative Council, the chamber of Punjab Legislative Assembly is now the chamber of Punjab Legislative Assembly.
As a part of Guru Nanak’s 550th parkash purab celebrations, Punjab Government has decided to convene a special one-day session to venerate the founder of Sikhism.
The two-hour-long session, that would commence at 11 am on Wednesday would be addressed by the Vice-President M Venkaiah Naidu, who is the chief guest, and the former Prime Minister Dr Manmohan Singh, who is the main speaker.
The Chief Ministers of the two States — Manohar Lal Khattar (Haryana) and Capt Amarinder Singh (Punjab), along with the MLAs are also expected to participate in the special session.
Punjab Vidhan Sabha Speaker Rana KP Singh has personally extended the invitation to his Haryana counterpart Gian Chand Gupta, who is also expected to be part of the special session.
It has been learnt that the session would be addressed the Speaker Rana KP, who would give the inaugural address. After him, Dr Manmohan Singh will address the House in connection with Guru Nanak Dev, followed by the closing speech by Vice-President Naidu.
“All arrangements have been made, right from decoration to the sitting arrangements for the MLAs of both states, and other modalities. Effort has been made to make this session a memorable one which would be a real tribute to the first guru,” Punjab Vidhan Sabha’s official, who did not wish to be named, told The Pioneer.
The Vidhan Sabha building is all decked up with flowers and illuminated, inside out. “For decorating the building for the special session, we have used 1200 kg flowers,” said the official.
The 25-feet door of the assembly’s Ceremonial Entrance, facing the Punjab and Haryana High Court, is also decorated with flowers. “The Vice-President would be received from the ceremonial entrance,” said the official, adding that strict security arrangements have also been made in and around the Vidhan Sabha.
Following the two-hour special session, the House would again meet at 2:30 pm to hold the proceedings, including the passing of a couple of bills.
