The Battle for Chandigarh: Unravelling Punjab’s claim

Is Chandigarh Punjab’s or Haryana’s? The deeply emotive issue has been part of the political discourse in the region for a long time. The joint capital city has managed to create clear divisions between the neighbouring states, and the successive governments at the Centre have been of little help to resolve the issue.

With the reports of the BJP-led Union Government allotting land to the Haryana Government for a new Vidhan Sabha building in Chandigarh, which has come in for sharp criticism from the Punjab Government and all the political parties in the border state, including the BJP state president Sunil Jakhar, the Chandigarh issue has once again hogged limelight. At the same time, the Haryana Government and all the political parties in the BJP-ruled state have also united to renew their claim on Chandigarh.

In this explainer, The Tribune has dug out the history related to the creation of the first planned city of India and how it divided the neighbouring states -- Punjab and Haryana, who share Chandigarh as their capital city.

(A) Punjabi and Hindi zones:  A conference was convened by Pandit Govind Ballabh Pant, the then Minister for Home Affairs, on October 15, 16, 17, 1956, wherein a 6-member committee was set up under the chairmanship of Punjab Chief Minister to consider the question of Language under the recommendations put forth by the State Reorganisation Commission to which the protagonists of the Punjabi language had raised vigorous opposition and demands were repeatedly made for the formation of a Punjab-speaking state.

The six-member committee agreed on the demarcation of the two regions (Punjabi and Hindi zones) generally on the district basis but they suggested departure in two respects (1) That Jind and Narwana tehsils of Sangrur district should be included in the Hindi region and (2) That Ropar and Kharar tehsils of Ambala district should be included in the Punjabi region.

The Constitution was accordingly amended by the Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956.   On July 4, 1957, the Punjab government issued a notification, announcing that the Union government had decided that for the purpose of implementation by the Regional Committees of the Legislative Assembly of Punjab, the state shall be divided into two distinct regions. C.P.N. Thakur, who remained Punjab Governor from March 11, 1953, to September 14, 1958, declared in the Joint Session of Punjab Assembly and Council that Ropar and Kharar tehsils of Ambala district are placed in the Punjabi speaking area. It is pertinent to mention here that the three-member Boundary Commission, headed by Justice J.C. Shah later in 1965-66 allocated the whole of Kharar tehsil to Haryana as a Hindi speaking area according to the (unreliable) statistics of the earlier census, 1951.

The President issued an order in November 1957, constituting regional committees for the Hindi and Punjabi regions of the Punjab state. The areas falling within the two regions were specified.

The official Language Act 28, 1960, which was enacted by the State Legislature to decide the official language of the state provided that from the second day of October, 1960, Hindi in Hindi region and Punjabi in Punjabi region shall be the official languages for all purposes in the districts or parts thereof situated in those regions. But this scheme was not faithfully implemented.  Agitations from the protagonists of the two languages demanding division of the state on a linguistic basis continued unabated.  In 1960, there was a vehement agitation by the Punjabis, which led to the incarceration of some 50,000 Punjabis. Later, the agitation was withdrawn and the demand for a “Punjabi Suba” was revived in 1965. On September 6, 1965, the then Home Minister announced that a cooperative solution of this problem would be found for implementation.

 (B) Formation of Chandigarh Union Territory:  With the fore-mentioned antecedents in the background, on November 1, 1966, which was already a remnant of the historic partition of India in 1947, Haryana was carved out of Punjab and hundreds of Punjabi-speaking villages were transferred to Haryana. Besides, the Punjab districts of Shimla and Kangra were merged with Himachal Pradesh on topographical grounds.  Simultaneously, the Capital was sanctioned away from Punjab and the whole of Chandigarh region with its 22 surrounding villages were promulgated into a separate unit called the Union Territory of Chandigarh under the Central Rule. Thus, the Punjab province was trifurcated overnight, and new order came into force with effect from November 1, 1966.

The Punjab people were very much aggrieved at the exclusion of Chandigarh from Punjab. Justice Gurdev Singh Dutt -- one of the three members of Punjab Boundary Commission -- had put in a strong dissenting note logically advocating that Chandigarh ought to go to Punjab. An intensive perusal of that note attached to the Boundary Commission’s verdict is a must to read even now.

A perusal demonstration, the like of which had never been witnessed before, was organised by the late Sant Fateh Singh, who was even bent upon immolating himself to get Chandigarh restored to Punjab until the then Assembly Speaker Hukam Singh brought the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi’s solemn word that Chandigarh would be given over to Punjab. Still, Sardar Pheruman fasted unto death for demanding that Chandigarh should have been retained in Punjab.

Following Punjab’s continued pressure and persistent demand, the then Prime Minister Indira Gandhi gave her promised award in 1971-72 that Chandigarh would be given to Punjab in lieu of Fazilka-Abohar while Hindi speaking area in Punjab to be given simultaneously to Haryana.

Even on the eve of the Operation Bluestar, Indira Gandhi in her broadcast to the nation on June 2, 1984 night, appealed for the withdrawal of the Sikh agitation, re-assuring that she had already given Chandigarh to Punjab. The military operation on the Akal Takht in Amritsar gave rise to new problems and challenges and altered the entire situation and scenario not only in Punjab but all over the country.

The successor Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi, with the help of then Punjab Governor Arjun Singh, tried to settle the Punjab tangle with all sincerity of purpose. He struck an historic agreement called the Punjab Accord on July 24, 1985, with the popular Sikh leader Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. Article 7.1 of that Accord runs as follows:

“The Capital Project Area of Chandigarh will go to Punjab.  Some adjoining areas, which were previously part of Hindi or Punjabi regions, were included in the Union Territory.  With the Capital region going to Punjab, the areas, which were added to the Union Territory from the Punjabi region of the erstwhile state of Punjab, will be transferred to Punjab and those from the Hindi region to Haryana.   The entire Sukhna Lake will thus go to Punjab.”

In pursuance of this clause in the Punjab Accord, the then Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi declared that Chandigarh would be transferred to Punjab on January 26, 1986, but he backed out at the eleventh hour and all the necessary preparations for the merger came to a naught. Rajiv Gandhi’s backtracking came after the Haryana people held a massive demonstration to the Parliament House led by Chaudhary Devi Lal.

Article 7.2 (para 1) of the Punjab Accord lays down the following:

“It had always been maintained by Indira Gandhi that when Chandigarh was to go to Punjab, some Hindi speaking territories in Punjab would go to Haryana. A Commission will be constituted to determine the specific Hindi-speaking areas of Punjab which should go to Haryana in lieu of Chandigarh.”

The Mathew Commission conducted a mini-census in the villages of Fazilka-Abohar area claimed by Haryana and gave the verdict that although there were 83 Hindi-speaking villages in that area, yet they could not be transferred to Haryana for want of contiguity. A big Punjabi-speaking village, Khandu Khera stood in the way.

The Venkata Remiah Commission changed his first verdict of building a twin-city to 70,000 acres of Punjab land to be given to Haryana in lieu of Chandigarh.

With the failure of both the Commissions to identify Hindi-speaking villages in Punjab along its border with Haryana, the Centre appointed Desai Commission, which the Punjab government rejected outright.

The subsequent Commissions concluded that Punjabi is the mother tongue of Punjab -- be they Hindus, Muslims, Sikhs, Christians, or others. Those who have come from West Punjab (Pakistan) to settle here, still speak better Punjabi than the local people do.