Two U-turns in 15 days: Who is guiding BJP’s Punjab policy?

When the Union Home Ministry on Sunday deferred a controversial Chandigarh-related Bill previously scheduled for the upcoming winter session, many in the national political circles asked why the BJP Government at the Centre listed it in parliamentary bulletins in the first place.

The retraction was triggered by a fierce political backlash with the opposition AAP led by Arvind Kejriwal, Congress and Shiromani Akali Dal slamming the Bill as Centre's attempt to change Chandigarh's administrative structure and undermine Punjab's claim over Chandigarh as its capital.

There were fears that the government would, through legislative changes, open the door for appointing a Lieutenant Governor to administer Chandigarh, ending the 41-year-old system under which the Punjab Governor serves as the Administrator.

Even the Punjab BJP was anxious about the move and advised its leaders in Delhi to factor the sensitivities of Punjab, which is emotional about Chandigarh, a capital it shares with neighbouring Haryana but sees as its own.

The controversy followed the Union Education Ministry’s retraction on November 8 of an equally contentious notification that sought to change the governance structures of Panjab University, Chandigarh—a move which further added to the mystery as to why the BJP, led by Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, appears to be faltering in Punjab.

After the Home Ministry withdrew the bill on Sunday, just two days after listing it in the Friday parliamentary bulletin, questions arose in the capital’s power corridors about who advised listing the Bill and why.

This question became even more pressing after the MHA, in a statement announcing deferment of the Bill, said it was not final and was still under consideration. Then why was it listed for introduction, discussion and passing in the upcoming winter session of Parliament?

The backstory of the now withdrawn education ministry notification also remains a mystery. What's clear is -- the notification on PU Chandigarh, whose Chancellor is Vice President CP Radhakrishnan, got issued in routine without any attention being paid to its political consequences. The exact same sequence of events dotted the listing and eventual retraction of the Constitution Amendment Bill that sought to bracket Chandigarh with the UTs of Andaman and Nicobar Islands, Lakshadweep, Dadra Nagar Haveli, Daman Diu mentioned under Article 240 of the Constitution.

The Bill ended up in the list of 10 new legislations the government has to pilot in the winter session of Parliament starting December 1. This happened even when the Bill was, "by MHA's admission", not yet final.

"It is unclear who is guiding the central BJP's Punjab policy because the executive moves stand in complete contrast to PM Modi's consistent political outreach with the Sikh community in Punjab and across India. The timing of the Chandigarh Bill just ahead of the November 25 commemoration of the 350th martyrdom of Guru Tegh Bahadur is very surprising. PM Modi will personally lead the November 25 commemoration," said a senior BJP leader.

Prime Minister Modi is expected to attend Haryana government’s event on November 25 in Kurukshetra to mark Guru Teg Bahadur’s martyrdom. Some in the BJP, attuned to Punjab’s political climate, believe the Union government’s Punjab policy may be driven more by bureaucratic imperatives than political strategy. This would explain the underestimation of sensitivities surrounding both the Panjab University restructuring and the Chandigarh Bill.

For instance any alteration of Panjab University governance bodies, the Senate and the Syndicate, affects the morale of Punjab which has long identified with the varsity. PU Chandigarh is no ordinary university. After the Reorganisation Act 1966 which led to the creation of separate states of Punjab, Haryana and Himachal Pradesh, Panjab University became an inter state body corporate with expenses to be shared by all three to the extent of 20 % and by the Centre to the extent of 40 %.

Haryana and Himachal withdrew their colleges from PU in 1973 and 1975 and set up their own varsities. This meant Punjab spent on PU after that. Now Haryana's latest claim to affiliate its colleges with PU has raised Punjab heckles with state CM Bhagwant Mann raising the issue at the recent meeting of Northern Zonal Council chaired by Amit Shah.

Similarly, Punjab asserts full control over Chandigarh, its shared capital with Haryana. The city was shifted from Lahore to Shimla in 1947 and then to newly built Chandigarh in 1953, but the Punjab Reorganisation Act of 1966 declared Chandigarh a Union Territory and capital for both Punjab and Haryana.

Thereafter, late PMs Indira Gandhi and Rajiv Gandhi through the Indira Agreement 1970 and Rajiv-Longowal Accord 1985 spoke of transferring Chandigarh to Punjab. That did not happen.

With old promises unmet and new challenges to Chandigarh and its landscape emerging, sensitivities of Punjab are running high. The central BJP would do well to take note of that.