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.

The fear was that the Government would, through legislative changes, open the door for appointing an LG to run Chandigarh and end the 41 year old system under which the Punjab governor serves as Chandigarh administrator.

Even 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.

That the Bill fiasco should have followed Union Education Ministry's November 8 retraction of an equally controversial notification that sought to change the governance structures of Panjab University Chandigarh adds to the mystery as to why the BJP, led by top strategists in Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Home Minister Amit Shah, is faltering in Punjab.

When MHA pulled back the Bill on Sunday after listing it just two days back in the Friday bulletin of Parliament, the question being asked in the capital's power corridors was -- who suggested the listing of 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The backstory of the now withdrawn education ministry notification also remains a mystery.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 ten 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 Teg Bahadur is very surprising. PM Modi will personally lead the November 25 commemoration," said a senior BJP leader.

PM Modi is expected to attend Haryana government's November 25 event in Kurukshetra to commemorate Guru Teg Bahadur's martyrdom.

A section of the BJP with a pulse on Punjab feels the Union government's Punjab policy may be guided by bureaucratic demands more than politics.

This explains why in both the PU restructuring and Chandigarh Bill issues, the scale of sensitivities involved was underestimated.

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.

Proposed changes to PU's governance structures expectedly raised eyebrows and were met with stiff opposition forcing a U turn by the Centre.

Likewise is the case with Chandigarh, Punjab's capital. The state has been urging the Centre to grant it full control over the city. This demand has historical roots although Haryana makes an equal claim on Chandigarh.

The capital of Punjab was officially shifted from Lahore to Shimla in 1947 and then to the newly built city of Chandigarh on September 21, 1953. Punjab gave up nearly two dozen of its villages for land to Chandigarh.

The Punjab reorganisation Act 1966 however designated Chandigarh as a UT and it was declared as a 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 for Chandigarh and its landscape emerging, sensitivities of Punjab are running high.

The central BJP would do well to take note of that.