Shiromani Akali Dal president Sukhbir Singh Badal on Sunday warned Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to immediately withdraw his “dangerous” statement on Chandigarh which had surrendered Punjab’s rights over the Union Territory of Chandigarh or be ready to face a full scale agitation on the issue by Punjabis.
Asserting that the Chief Minister had “backstabbed” Punjabis and poured water over their aspirations to not only regain Chandigarh, Punjabi-speaking areas left behind in Haryana as well as its river waters, Sukhbir said: “Bhagwant Mann alone is responsible for the current crisis which has threatened Punjab’s hold on Chandigarh.”
He said that the Chief Minister had himself harmed the state’s interests during a meeting with the Chief Justice of the Punjab and Haryana High Court in which he demanded a separate piece of land for a High Court building of the State. “This demand gave Haryana a chance to seek land for a separate Vidhan Sabha in the Union Territory,” he pointed.
Asserting that no Punjabi could surrender the state’s interests in this fashion, Sukhbir said: “It seems Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) convener Arvind Kejriwal has made him give this statement under a conspiracy to erode all standing rights of Punjab...We will not let this conspiracy succeed at any cost and have called an emergency meeting of the party’s core committee on July 12 to chalk out our next course of action.”
Sukhbir, addressing the media on this development, also categorically told the Central Government that Chandigarh was an inalienable part of Punjab and party would not allow Haryana to take over any land in the Union Territory to build a new Vidhan Sabha or High Court. “We are ready to make any sacrifice needed for this”, he added.
He also appealed to the Prime Minister Narendra Modi to understand the sentiments of Punjabis and transfer Chandigarh to Punjab. “The Central Government is at best a caretaker as far as Chandigarh is concerned with the issue having been decided in 1966 during the reorganization of States and later by the Rajiv-Longowal Accord in 1985 which had been passed by the Parliament as well as the Haryana assembly,” he said.
Sukhbir also announced that SAD would meet the Prime Minister as well as the Home Minister to apprise them of the situation besides informing them that Haryana did not have any right to take over any fresh piece of land in Chandigarh.
SAD President, accompanied by senior leaders including Balwinder Singh Bhundur and Prem Singh Chandumajra, also detailed how Chandigarh had been established by uprooting Punjabi-speaking villages of Kharar tehsil. “This, in itself, gives Punjab natural right over Chandigarh, a fact which has not been disputed by the Centre or Haryana but has come under threat due to the compromised statement of the Punjab Chief Minister,” he added.
Sukhbir also related how the Punjab Chief Minister had successively failed to protect the interests of Punjab recently be it lack of any opposition to removing the permanent member representing Punjab in the Bhakra Beas Management Board (BBMB); failing to oppose central pay scales to government employees in Chandigarh; and not speaking up immediately against the move to convert Panjab University into a Central University.