Capital clash: Punjab, Haryana spar over ‘City Beautiful’

On April 1, the newly minted Aam Aadmi Party government of Bhagwant Mann passed a resolution in the Punjab Assembly demanding Chandigarh be transferred to the state.

The development triggered a war of words between Punjab and Haryana, bringing a five-decade-old legacy issue to the surface again.

Not to be outdone, on April 5 the Haryana Assembly retaliated by adopting a similar resolution and enlarged the debate by including two other contentious issues: language and its share of river waters through the stalled Satluj-Yamuna Link canal.

Adding a twist to the script, the Chandigarh Municipal Corporation on April 7 headed by the BJP resolved to let the city remain a Union Territory and asked Punjab and Haryana to have their own capital cities.

As per the existing arrangement, both states have been sharing Chandigarh as the joint capital since Haryana was carved out from the Hindi-speaking areas of Punjab as a separate state in 1966.

The result of this renewed tussle is a state of status quo, refreshed.

Chandigarh was the capital of the unified state and created at the foothills of Shivalik Mountains, with famous Franco-Swiss architect Le Corbusier drawing the blueprint for one of the most planned cities. The denizens take pride in calling it ‘City Beautiful’.

But the row has raised a question: what was the trigger for the AAP government to rekindle the debate which did not even figure in the run-up to the recent Assembly elections?

Plausible theory

The most plausible theory is the decision of the Union government that service rules of its employees will apply to those working for the Union Territory.

On the face of it, the move appears logical since the administration of Chandigarh is supervised by a centrally-appointed administrator.

But it does not work in a linear manner especially when the people of Punjab perceive it from an emotional viewpoint.

In 2016, the Union government’s announcement of appointing an independent administrator for Chandigarh and separating work from the Punjab Governor, who traditionally holds the office, led to an uproar.

The Shiromani Akali Dal government of Parkash Singh Badal, which was in power then, exerted pressure over its ally, the BJP, to withdraw the order as it otherwise would turn into a hot button issue in the 2017 Assembly elections. The order was rescinded and the Punjab Governor to date continues to hold the office of the administrator.

While a peep into history shows that this was not the first time that Punjab Assembly passed such a resolution, it will perhaps not be the last. Both states are unable to resolve the issue as governments of Punjab and Haryana have seats of power in Chandigarh as well as respective assemblies.

Interestingly, the last time the Centre attempted to resolve the issue of Chandigarh for Punjab was when the Punjab Accord was being negotiated by the Rajiv Gandhi government with Sikh leader Harchand Singh Longowal. An apocryphal story that did rounds those days was the then Haryana Chief Minister Bhajan Lal, who heard of such a move being contemplated, stoutly opposed it stating such a step could only happen over his dead body. The current government in Haryana drew attention to the fact that the Rajiv-Longowal Accord kept Chandigarh as the joint capital.

When the Punjab Assembly adopted the resolution, BJP members walked out while Haryana’s Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar took the lead to counter it, a move that received unanimous support from members of the Congress, which is in the Opposition.

The battle lines have been re-chalked by Haryana as the state gears up for Assembly polls in a couple of years. In the Chandigarh Corporation, while the BJP carried the day, AAP and Akali members staged a walkout.

The AAP government in Punjab has stirred the political cauldron in Haryana, a state the party intends to become a serious aspirant when elections are held in 2024.

As the first step to strengthen the party, AAP Convener Arvind Kejriwal inducted former Haryana MP Ashok Tanwar who had last year joined the Trinamool Congress.

Tanwar, who held a troubled tenure as the Haryana Congress Chief, hobbled as he was by former Congress Chief Minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda, would have to work on a strategy to woo the electorate on a different plank just as Kejriwal retraced his roots to one of its most well-known city, Bhiwani.

AAP in Punjab has certainly queered the pitch for the party in neighbouring Haryana, while in Chandigarh the party’s councillors tread on a thin line. If in politics there are only permanent interests, the game just got interesting.

(The author is a senior journalist based in Delhi)

Watch the latest DH Videos here: