Chandigarh: The longstanding political issue of the claims of Punjab and Haryana over their common state capital, Chandigarh, has resurfaced, following Union home minister Amit Shah’s 9 July announcement that Haryana would be given land in Chandigarh for the construction of an additional Vidhan Sabha building.
This time, the issue also seems to have put Punjab’s new Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) government in a tight spot, with opposition parties accusing chief minister Bhagwant Mann of “weakening” the state’s claim on Chandigarh.
Currently, the two states share a common building in the iconic Capitol Complex of Chandigarh city, which houses both their assembly halls. The building is a heritage site. The two states also share a common building for their secretariat, and also have one high court.
Haryana CM Manohar Lal Khattar welcomed the move, citing how the current Vidhan Sabha building in Chandigarh does not have adequate space for Haryana’s legislators — the number of which is likely to increase from 90 to 126 in the next seven years after a new delimitation process. Haryana assembly Speaker Gian Chand Gupta asserted that the construction of an additional building didn’t mean that Haryana would leave its claim to a share in the existing complex.
Reacting to the development, Mann went on to urge the Union government to provide land in Chandigarh for a separate Vidhan Sabha for Punjab as well. “I appeal to the central government that on the lines of Haryana, Punjab should also be allotted land in Chandigarh to form its own assembly… There has been a demand for a long time that the Punjab and Haryana High Court should also be separated… for this also, please, the central government should provide land in Chandigarh,” he tweeted.
That’s where the political fight started in Punjab.
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Mann under fire
Opposition parties in Punjab are not only training their guns at the Union government and the BJP-led government in Haryana, but also CM Mann.
Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring said on Sunday: “By giving land to Haryana to establish an exclusive Vidhan Sabha without due deliberations with all stakeholders, especially the Punjab government, there is an attempt to bulldoze Punjab’s sentiments about Chandigarh. It is important to halt the process and take us on board for further action.”
On Mann’s statement requesting land for a separate Vidhan Sabha for Punjab, Warring asked: “Why does Punjab need to construct another Vidhan Sabha building?”
His party colleague, Partap Singh Bajwa, who is also the Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in Punjab, said in a press conference Sunday: “Chandigarh is an inalienable part of Punjab. Haryana is most welcome to build a new Vidhan Sabha outside the Union territory’s limits.”
Chandigarh, which is the state capital of both Punjab and Haryana, is technically a Union territory governed by an administrator appointed by the Union government. Currently, Punjab Governor Banwarilal Purohit is the administrator of Chandigarh. The UT, in its current form, has a secretariat of its own, with its own police and departments such as health NS education.
Reacting to Mann’s comments, Bajwa said: “This will weaken Punjab’s right over Chandigarh. One must not forget that UNESCO world heritage buildings (in THE Capitol Complex) built by (French architect) Le Corbusier belong to Punjab.”
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Singh Badal, too, targeted Mann Sunday, saying, “I am shocked that someone who calls himself the chief minister of Punjab can issue statements to give up Punjab’s widely acknowledged and inalienable right over its capital, Chandigarh. The entire city belongs to Punjab and the Punjab CM is begging for a little space on our own land for a Vidhan Sabha building. How can a chief minister of Punjab speak the language of Haryana on allotting land to Haryana?”
Badal then went on to criticise the Centre. “The Centre has no right to allot even an inch of Chandigarh to Haryana as the city belongs entirely, exclusively, and inalienably to Punjab, and its status as a Union territory is a strictly temporary arrangement pending its transfer to Punjab,” he said.
Speaking with reporters Sunday, AAP leader Chetan Singh Jauramajra, who is also Punjab’s new health minister, said if Haryana wants to set up a separate Vidhan Sabha, they should do so in their own state but not in Chandigarh. Jauramajra did not take questions on the controversy surrounding Mann’s comments.
AAP’s chief spokesperson for Punjab, Malvinder Singh Kang, told ThePrint Monday: “The CM’s statement is being deliberately misconstrued by political opponents. He never said anything about leaving the existing Vidhan Sabha. The AAP firmly believes that Punjab has an absolute claim on Chandigarh. Shared space in the Vidhan Sabha and secretariat and a common courtfor both states were temporary provisions for Haryana. If they want a new Vidhan Sabha, they should set it up in their own state.”
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Not the first time
The issue of the two states’ claims over Chandigarh has resurfaced for the second time this year.
The Haryana government had on 5 April moved a resolution during a special assembly session to counter Punjab staking a claim on Chandigarh.
“Chandigarh was, is, and will be of Haryana and no one will be allowed to harm the interests of the state and they are willing to make any sacrifice to protect its interests, including leading a padyatra or any other step for the welfare of the state,” leader of the opposition and former chief minister Bhupinder Singh Hooda had said when the resolution was tabled in the Haryana Assembly. CM Khattar had also reiterated that Haryana would not allow Punjab to “take away Chandigarh”.
Days earlier, on 1 April, the Punjab assembly had passed a resolution urging the Centre to immediately transfer Chandigarh to it, following an announcement by home minister Amit Shah that central service rules would apply to the employees of the Union Territory.
The resolution in Punjab was also passed unanimously in the House. According to the resolution, Chandigarh was created as the capital of Punjab and “in all past precedents whenever a state has been divided, the capital remains with the parent state”.
Such a resolution has been passed seven times in the past, excluding the April 2022 instance, mostly by Shiromani Akali Dal-led governments. Over the years, there has been increasing resentment in Punjab over its declining share in the Chandigarh administration and the posting of more and more central officers there.
Punjab and Haryana have earlier clashed over the former wanting more space in the existing Vidhan Sabha, too.
Over the past two decades, said a senior bureaucrat based in Chandigarh, the two states have been deliberating on separating their secretariat buildings and having two separate high courts.
“But the deliberations have failed to yield any result because Haryana prefers to have the new offices in Chandigarh, and Punjab is opposed to this. Punjab won’t let Haryana set up any new office in Chandigarh. A few years ago, Haryana had proposed having a separate high court in Karna, but the idea met with strong protests from lawyers already practising in the existing high court in Chandigarh. That idea also didn’t work out,” said the official.
Looking back
The city of Chandigarh was the vision of India’s first prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru, who wanted it to be a ‘model city for the rest of the world’. Designed by Le Corbusier, the construction of the planned city began in the early 1950s, and most of it was completed in the early 1960s.
During the Partition of India, the Punjab province had been divided into two — West Punjab (in Pakistan) and East Punjab (in India). In 1950, East Punjab was renamed the state of Punjab and Chandigarh was made its capital by the Indian government. The city was conceived not only to serve as the capital of East Punjab, but also to resettle thousands of refugees who had been uprooted from West Punjab, according to the official website of the Chandigarh administration.
In 1966, undivided Punjab was again split on the basis of linguistic differences into Punjabi-speaking Punjab and Hindi-speaking Haryana, while some territories also went to the new hill state of Himachal Pradesh. Both Punjab and Haryana claimed Chandigarh as their capital. At that time, then prime minister Indira Gandhi had given UT status to Chandigarh to resolve the dispute, but indicated that it was only temporary and that it would later be transferred to Punjab.
In 1976, the Centre extended the joint status of Chandigarh, as Punjab and Haryana weren’t willing to budge on their claim.
In 1985, according to the accord signed by then PM Rajiv Gandhi and Akali Dal chief Harchand Singh Longowal, Chandigarh was to be handed over to Punjab in 1986, while some Hindi-speaking towns including Abohar and Fazilka were to be given to Haryana. A sum of Rs 10 crore was also supposed to be given to the state to create its own capital. The accord was, however, never ratified as Longowal was assassinated by Sikh militants.
The dispute over Chandigarh has continued over the decades, partly due to the militancy that extended to the mid-1990s in Punjab and because the state wasn’t ready to part with its Hindi-speaking areas. Haryana has also always objected to Chandigarh’s sole association with Punjab as politicians in the state assert that it is a part of Ambala district and an inseparable part of Haryana.
Himachal Pradesh, too, claimed a share of the capital based on a Supreme Court judgment delivered in 2011. According to the order, Himachal Pradesh was entitled to get 7.19 per cent of Chandigarh’s land on the basis of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.
(Edited by Nida Fatima Siddiqui)
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