Row over Administrator

On Wednesday the Union Home Ministry named a Governor for Punjab, without the customary additional charge as Administrator for Chandigarh. There was no consultation with the Punjab Government. None in the Home Ministry apparently had given a thought to the possible political repercussions of disrupting the 32-year-old practice of having the Punjab Governor as the Chandigarh Administrator. Realisation probably dawned after a protest by Chief Minister Badal and the Home Ministry agreed “not to disturb the time-tested convention”.  Politicians and people of Chandigarh have got used to the present arrangement, but the unexpected Central initiative did excite them for a while before it was nixed under pressure since they feel Chandigarh, being a growing city with complicated problems and multiple power centres, requires more than a part-time Administrator-cum-Governor.

Chief Minister Badal had his political reasons to react immediately and sharply to the Central move. Having an independent, separate Administrator would have meant dilution of Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh. This would have been particularly disastrous for the SAD-BJP combine faced with the assembly elections in six months' time. The Congress and AAP lost no time in condemning the appointment. Besides, this was a blow to the Akali Dal which has been taking pride in launching ‘morchas’ over Chandigarh and other territorial and water issues. Curiously, ticklish issues like the Anandpur Sahib resolution and the inter-state river waters dispute agitate the Akali minds only when out of power and unemployed.

While enjoying the fruits of power, the Akali leadership chooses to forget them. During the past nine and a half years of its rule the leadership has made little efforts to reach out to the other parties in the disputes, hold talks with an open mind and in the give-and-take spirit, or try an out-of-court settlement of the river water dispute. The friendly BJP governments in Haryana and at the Centre provided a rare opportunity to Mr Badal to show statesmanship but he has remained content with his vote-bank politics. More dangerously, he has been urging public sacrifices in case of an adverse Supreme Court verdict.