The Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)-supported Government in Punjab and its newly-elected Government in Haryana are apparently heading for a clash.
Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal has made it clear that Punjab wants Chandigarh as its sole capital, a demand likely to be opposed by the newly elected Government in Haryana.
Just about a week after BJP’s Punjab unit raised the issue to get Chandigarh and other Punjabi-speaking areas from Haryana with its Government taking over in the sister State, Badal did not let go any moment to “renew” his pledge to retrieve Punjabi speaking areas and Chandigarh for the State.
Badal’s statement can also be seen as the ruling Shiromani Akali Dal’s apparent attempt to keep the issue of Rajiv-longowal accord with itself after the saffron party tried to hijack it.
SAD had all along been raising the issue of transferring Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas to Punjab on the basis of the agreement signed by the then Prime Minister Rajeev Gandhi and then SAD president Harcharan Singh longowal in 1985.
Nearly three-decade after the Rajiv-longowal pact was inked, Punjab BJP brought forth the issue of transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab considering that the party is now holding reins in both the States and also at the Centre only last week.
The State BJP chief Kamal Sharma had made it clear that the party was in favour of handing over Chandigarh to Punjab, and the issue would once more be raised at the appropriate level with their parties at the helm of affairs in Haryana as well.
Hitting the iron when it’s hot, Badal asserted that he would raise the issues pertaining to transfer of Chandigarh and Punjabi-speaking areas to Punjab with the Centre at the earliest.
“Every Punjabi was equally concerned with these emotive issues of the State, which had been till now hanging in fire due to the discriminatory attitude of the successive Congress Governments at the Centre,” said Badal on the sidelines of a function in Pheruman village in Amritsar district.
Badal was paying tributes to Darshan Singh Pheruman, who had laid down his life while observing fast-unto-death for the sake of getting Punjabi-speaking areas and Chandigarh back to the State, in his native village.
He said that the SAD always stood for giving Punjabi-speaking areas, legitimate share of river waters and Chandigarh to Punjab.
Taking a dig at the Congress, Badal said that it “deliberately denied” Punjabi speaking areas and Chandigarh to Punjab, for which the brave Punjabis would never forgive.
“Even after more than four decades of Pheruman’s death, these vexed issues are still unresolved because the Congress had always meted out step motherly treatment to the State,” said Badal.
Over the decades, Chandigarh has become the bone of contention between Punjab and Haryana with both staking their claims on it. It does not seem likely that BJP-led Haryana Government would let go Chandigarh.
The demand of immediate transfer of Chandigarh was raised every now and then by the both the State Governments, especially with the elections round the corner. The Governor Address, given by the State Governor before the Budget session every year, made a mention of this issue without fail.
In fact, the ruling SAD and BJP in Punjab always included this burning issue in their election manifestos.
Even as Haryana lay its claim on the capital city, Punjab had always accused the Congress Governments at the Centre for “discriminating and meting out injustice” by delaying in transferring Chandigarh and other Punjabi speaking areas to the State.
Punjab has all along been arguing that being the “parent State”, it has the first and legitimate right over the city.
Chandigarh — the City Beautiful — was to be transferred to Punjab on January 26, 1986, as a part of the Rajiv-longowal Accord. But the implementation of this point of the accord was scuttled virtually at the last minutes.
Since then, Chandigarh has still not been transferred to either of the States, and enjoying the status of Union Territory while serving the capital of both the States.
Bringing to the fore once again the issue, the Punjab BJP had expressed hope that it was looking forward to an early resolution of pending issues, including transfer of Chandigarh, sharing of river waters, Satluj-Yamuna link canal, among others, with their government in Haryana also.
BJP’s demand was supported not only by its ally SAD, but also by the Congress, Sikh nationalist political party SAD (Amritsar) led by former MP Simranjit Singh Mann, among others.