Which state does Chandigarh belong to?

Does Chandigarh belong to Punjab or Haryana? This deeply emotive issue has dictated political discourse in the region since long. The joint capital has caused and created clear divisions between the neighbouring states, and the successive governments at the Centre have been of little help in resolving the issue.

Nitin Jain

Does Chandigarh belong to Punjab or Haryana? This deeply emotive issue has dictated political discourse in the region since long. The joint capital has caused and created clear divisions between the neighbouring states, and the successive governments at the Centre have been of little help in resolving the issue.

The unsavoury controversy arose once again when the Centre recently proposed the name of Kerala's former bureaucrat-turned-politician KJ Alphons as the first independent Administrator - with a rank equivalent to that of Lieutenant Governor - for Chandigarh. As soon as the news broke, Punjab Chief Minister Parkash Singh Badal voiced strong opposition to what was perceived as an unprecedented and unexpected move of the BJP-led Narendra Modi government, of which the Badal-led SAD is an ally.

Though the political fabric in Punjab is punctured by countless number of differences and disputes, there is consensus on one issue: Chandigarh should be given to Punjab. Toeing the line taken by Badal, Punjab Congress president Captain Amarinder Singh also rejected the move, saying, "It was a blatantly unjust move, aimed at snatching away Chandigarh from Punjab".

The resultant political outcry made the Centre withdraw the proposed appointment of Alphons, and continue with the 32-year-old practice of assigning the additional charge of the UT Administrator to the new Punjab Governor, VP Singh Badnore. This left Chandigarh politicians "high and dry", who, rising above party lines, had hailed the Centre's move to delink UT's administrative control from Punjab.

While Punjab's political leadership has been lobbying for the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, their Chandigarh counterparts want the Union Government to maintain the city's special status as UT. What's more, there's also been demand for merging the Greater Mohali area of Punjab, Panchkula district of Haryana, and the adjoining parts of Himachal Pradesh with Chandigarh to give it the status of a metropolitan city.

Going a step further, retaining the city's lone Lok Sabha seat and creating a new Vidhan Sabha for Chandigarh is also on their wish list. This way, they argue, the issues arising out of "dictatorship" by the bureaucrats in the Union Territory will come to an end and the residents of Chandigarh will also come under the rule of an elected state government. How things will pan out and in whose favour, will only be known in future.