Claim over Chandigarh finds little resonance in Punjab

In the past one week, every political party in Punjab, the ruling BJP in Haryana as well as farm unions, have competed in speaking louder than anyone else on the issue of the proposed transfer of land by Chandigarh to Haryana for the new Vidhan Sabha building.

So much so that the historic unity between farm unions of Punjab and Haryana, which led to the biggest ever farmers’ stir in 2020-21, has been forgotten. Incidentally, the Chandigarh Urban Planning Department has said there’s no provision of swapping land in the master plan.

But this age-old emotive issue of claim over Chandigarh along with sharing of water through the Sutlej-Yamuna Link canal or a new Assembly building for Haryana in Chandigarh has found little resonance in the state. Except for leaders, speaking in unison across the political spectrum, more ordinary mortals have not batted the eyelid. In rural Punjab, farmers have been too busy in selling their paddy produce and sowing wheat, while in urban areas, people are looking for ways to improve their standard of living.

Interestingly, none of the politicians has raised the issue of transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab, as was promised in the Rajiv-Longowal Accord of 1985. Their objection is only to the land being allotted to Haryana.

AAP national convener Arvind Kejriwal, who was campaigning in Punjab yesterday, realised the “disinterest” of the voters of today with this emotive issue of Chandigarh. After two days of AAP leaders’ continuous clamouring on not letting Haryana stake its claim to Chandigarh, Kejriwal himself did not raise the issue. He instead spoke about giving jobs to the youngsters and promised better law and order situation.

Clearly, he knows the pulse of the voters of Gidderbaha, Barnala, Chabbewal and Dera Baba Nanak, who will exercise their franchise on November 20 to elect four new MLAs-based on immediate concerns that impact their livelihoods, rather than transfer of Chandigarh or Haryana asserting itself in the joint capital of the two states.

Down but definitely not out Sukhbir Badal was the first to realise that these “emotive” issues had failed to find favour with the new Punjab. He did try to make “development” the main agenda for his party, only regional outfit in the state, while the SAD-BJP was in power from 2007 to 2017, but the sacrilege incidents of 2015 first saw the party’s erosion and ultimately his resignation.

Last week, in the hope of finding its political moorings, SAD had joined the chorus with other political parties in the state over the issue of Chandigarh belonging to Punjab and the state’s claim being diluted if Haryana was to be allotted land in the city, but it then got caught in its internal wranglings.

The state leaders of BJP, too, raised the issue saying it would alienate Punjabis from the Centre but their own vote bank of urban Hindus have not supported this issue. Perhaps, being the economic drivers in urban areas, the Hindus are more keen on a cohesive society and would rather have their economic concerns addressed. As two decades of militancy still weighs on their collective psyche, they are trying to suppress the renewed radicalism or the change in discourse towards contentious issues.

Unemployment and underemployment continue to be the bane of today’s Punjab. Fanned by years of neglect of the education sector, Punjab’s umployment figures are amongst the highest in the country. The Periodic Labour Force Survey projected the state’s male unemployment rate at 16.7 per cent and female at 24.5 per cent. In the past few years, the only jobs that have been given are the ones in the government sector, which is close to 50,000. Underemployment, too, is creating jitteriness in the state. With gangsters making their presence felt, Kejriwal and CM Bhagwant Mann have tried to assuage the people by reassuring them that they will take anti-social forces head on.