A day after Haryana Assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta had met Punjab Governor and UT Administrator Banwarilal Purohit regrading allotment of a site for new Haryana Vidhan Sabha building in the capital city of Chandigarh, Punjab’s all political parties have come together against the same.
Notably, senior BJP leader and Haryana Speaker Gupta on Saturday met Purohit. After the meeting, he said: “Haryana Chief Secretary has also written to the Chandigarh Administration for the allotment of the site. I have requested him to speed up the matter. He assured me that the next course of action would be taken within a week.”
Earlier, Gupta and Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had inspected a 10-acre site near Chandigarh railway station chowk. However, the site is yet to be allotted. In return, Haryana is offering a 10-acre site in Panchkula.
Leading the charge against the BJP-led Haryana Government is veteran leader and former Member Parliament (MP) Sunil Jakhar, now BJP leaders in Punjab, who reiterated that there should never be any doubt in anyone's mind over Punjab's full ownership of its capital city Chandigarh.
Jakhar urged both Haryana and Punjab Chief Ministers to show magnanimity and statesmanship and decide amongst themselves to not rake up a non-existant issue; and utilize our historic Vidhan Sabha on rotational basis.
Cautioning the leaders of both states to avoid any spectre mongering for political gains over this highly sensitive issue which could be misused by vested interests to foment strife in the border state, Jakhar termed the demand as “outrightly illogical” and “baseless” which should not have been raised in the first place.
“I still have not understood as to why Bhagwant Mann ji as Punjab Chief Minister while responding to his Haryana counterpart's demand for separate space had raised a similar demand. By asking for separate place for Punjab Vidhan Sabha, Punjab Chief Minister not only exhibited his serious lack of political insight about issues of Punjab, but also gave impetus to Haryana's pointless demand,” said Jakhar.
Urging both the Chief Ministers to come together and spend their collective energies to resolve genuine issues of public concern, Jakhar said that the issue needs deliberate handling and must be resolved mutually.
“Why cannot we run the Vidhan Sabha which is an internationally reputed heritage building on rotational basis, say for first 15 days one state uses it and then it is available to the other state. This ways even the whole building is available for each state,” Jakhar said referring to Haryana Vidhan Sabha Speaker's request about more office rooms for official conduct of business.
Pointing out that in any case the dismal trend of fewer sittings is being followed by both Punjab and Haryana, Jakhar said that as per data, in last five years, on average both the legislatures has not sat for more than 15 days in a year. “This further blows a hole in the manufactured theory of need for separate space while what is required is to have more sittings at the same building. Moreover, in this digital day and age of hitech i-pads, e-offices who needs more office space,” he quipped.
Even if Haryana still thinks and needs separate land, they should consider the scenic area abutting Mansa Devi Complex in Panchkula which is, in fact, closer to the present set-up than the site asked for by Haryana, Jakhar suggested.
Meanwhile, the Shiromani Akali Dal also raised objective over Haryana’s demand. Senior Akali leader and former minister Bikram Singh Majithia appealed to Chandigarh UT Administrator to deny the Haryana Government’s “land swap proposal” to establish a separate Vidhan Sabha in the UT as the proposal was “against constitutional propriety”.
Majihia, in a letter to UT Administrator, said that Chandigarh was an inalienable part of Punjab and Haryana Government could not apply for a land swap without taking the consent of the parent State. “If such requests are taken into consideration, they will create anarchy as nothing stops the Punjab and Himachal Governments to put in requests for land swaps. The application is also against Section 3 of the Constitution which makes it clear that only the Parliament can change the borders of a State with the consent of the President,” he added.
SAD leader also apprised the Governor that the issue also concerned the sentiments of Punjabis which might get inflamed in the same manner as in the case of the Sutlej Yamuna Link (SYL) issue. “Punjab has gone through a period of strife and nothing should be done which has the propensity to vitiate the atmosphere in the region. Haryana thinks it will strengthen its case in Chandigarh by establishing a separate Vidhan Sabha but it is playing with fire. SAD, on its part, is committed to oppose this insidious agenda vigorously in keeping with the sentiments of Punjabis who find this proposal intolerable and unacceptable,” he added.
Majithia also informed the Administrator that the Haryana government’s application was also in contravention of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966, the Rajiv Longowal Accord and also against the spirit of federalism as a unilateral decision on this request would be discriminatory towards Punjab.
Giving details of Punjab’s case, Mr Majithia said Chandigarh was created by uprooting 22 Punjabi speaking villages of Kharar tehsil. “This gives Punjab a natural right over Chandigarh, a fact that has never been disputed by the Centre or even Haryana”.
He also asserted that it was a well-established precedent that whenever a State was divided the capital evolved to the parent State. “Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966, and a subsequent announcement by the Union Government in 1970 made it clear that Chandigarh would go to Punjab…Haryana was given temporary office and residential accommodation in Chandigarh till such time it did not establish its own capital. These guarantees were further strengthened by the Rajiv-Longowal accord which gave Punjab an exclusive right over Chandigarh. The accord was ratified by Parliament,” he added.
Senior SAD leader and former MP Prof Prem Singh Chandumajra, strongly opposing snatching away of joint land holdings and giving it to panchayats in name of shamlat land, said that AAP Government was betraying people with this great injustice.
“Action of the Punjab Government to get vacated joint land holdings in the name of shamlat lands was totally unconstitutional. Punjab Government’s decision will further create unrest in the State. The decision will also land people in multiple court cases as the mutation of the concerned land has been done several times after sales,” he added.
Chandumajra said that this will further disturb the law and order situation which was already under stress under the present Bhagwant Mann Government.
He demanded that AAP Government should immediately convene all-party meeting on the issue of separate land demanded by Haryana for its Vidhan Sabha in Chandigarh. “This is a serious issue concerned with federalism in the country and the Chief Minister should act accordingly after consulting all the political parties of the State,” he added.