‘Hurts Punjabis’: Jakhar to Modi after Centre clears Chandigarh land for new Haryana Assembly

Even as Haryana is ecstatic over the Centre providing environment clearance for exchange of land with Chandigarh for the construction of its new Assembly building, the development has triggered a political storm in neighbouring Punjab.

United in their decision to oppose the move, the leaders of various political parties in Punjab have rejected the move of allotting land for a separate Haryana Assembly in Chandigarh. While Punjab BJP chief Sunil Jakhar has questioned the decision taken by his own party’s government at the Centre, the Congress, AAP and SAD, too, opposed the move, calling it “unconstitutional” and a “violation” of the Punjab Reorganisation Act, 1966.

Former Haryana Speaker Gian Chand Gupta, who had initiated the move for the new Assembly building, claimed that the Union Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) had given the environment and forest clearance to 12 acres of land in Sector 2, Panchkula. “This land will be exchanged with Chandigarh in lieu of a 10-acre plot. The 12-acre land parcel is out of the ambit of the Sukhna Wildlife Sanctuary Eco Sensitive Zone (ESZ),” Gupta claimed.

The proposed Assembly building is likely to be constructed near the Chandigarh railway station light point, towards the IT Park road. Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini, Speaker Harvinder Kalyan and other state leaders have welcomed the move even as Chandigarh Deputy Commissioner Nishant Kumar Yadav said no such communication had been received from the Centre yet.

Reacting to the development, Jakhar sought Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s personal intervention to rescind the decision to allot land for the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. Opposing the allotment, he wrote on X that it went “against the sentiments of Punjabis and would cloud all the good initiatives the PM had taken for Punjab”. “It will set a precedent for transferring more land to Haryana in Chandigarh, including for a separate high court,” he said.

Punjab LoP Partap Singh Bajwa shot off a strongly worded letter to PM Modi, urging him to acknowledge “Punjab’s rightful claim over Chandigarh and fulfil longstanding promises made to the state”. Bajwa also underscored that the allocation of land for the Haryana Vidhan Sabha was being perceived by Punjabis as a “dilution of their legitimate claim over their capital”.

Punjab AAP spokesperson Neel Garg alleged that the Centre was conspiring against Punjab. He said Chandigarh belonged to Punjab in “every sense as it was built by displacing 22 villages from Kharar and was politically, socially, economically and culturally linked to Punjab”. Garg appreciated Jakhar for speaking out against this decision, saying he had “shown the BJP’s central leadership the mirror”.

Daljit Singh Cheema, SAD spokesman, said the decision was “unconstitutional” as Parliament alone could change state boundaries. Meanwhile, Haryana’s Energy, Transport and Labour Minister Anil Vij said, “Punjab’s CM Bhagwant Singh Mann says that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab. However, it will be yours only when you transfer the Hindi-speaking areas to Haryana and give us the SYL canal water.” He said currently Haryana had 90 MLAs and after the next delimitation, the count was estimated to rise to 120. “There is not sufficient space in the current Assembly for 120 members, so we (Haryana) were already preparing for our future requirements,” he said.

After Gupta and former CM Manohar Lal Khattar had raised the demand for a separate Assembly building, Union Home Minister Amit Shah had announced the allocation of land on July 9, 2022. The Chandigarh Administration had agreed to the proposal to give land to Haryana, but it was later stopped citing environment and forest clearance.

After this, Gupta met Union Environment Minister Bhupender Yadav several times. He expressed hope that the project would be executed under the guidance of new Haryana Speaker Harvinder Kalyan.