*SUKHBIR SINGH BADAL TAKES ON BHAGWANT MANN, AMIT SHAH FOR ANTI PUNJAB STATEMENTS ON CHANDIGARH*

BHAGWANT MANN  INSULTING COUNTLESS SACRIFICES MADE BY PUNJABIS FOR JUSTICE ON CHANDIGARH, RIVER WATERS

“ENTIRE CHANDIGARH BELONGS TO PUNJAB : UT STATUS  STRICTLY TEMPORARY PENDING TRANSFER TO PUNJAB

 CENTER HAS NO RIGHT TO ALLOT EVEN AN INCH OF CHD LAND TO ANYONE EXCEPT PUNJAB:  SUKHBIR SINGH BADAL REACTS STRONGLY TO AMIT SHAH STATEMENT

Chandigarh July 9 –Shiromani Akali Dal  president and  former Deputy CM Punjab Sukhbir Singh Badal  today took on the Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann  and Union Home Minister Amit Shah for issuing shockingly anti Punjab statements  grievously compromising  the state’s inalienable right on Chandigarh and on  other  areas of injustice done to the people of the state..

Referring to Bhagwant Mann’s demand for a space in Chandigarh for Punjab to build its separate Vidhan Sabha, Badal said, ” I am shocked that someone who calls himself the Chief Minister of Punjab can issue statements to give up Punjab’s widely acknowledged and inalienable right on its Capital, Chandigarh. The entire city belongs to Punjab and the Punjab CM is begging for a little space on our own land for Vidhan Sabha building. How can a Chief Minister of Punjab speak the language  of Haryana on allotting land to Haryana?  Is Bhagwant Mann really so unaware of the history of his own state seeped in struggle and martyrdom  by our people  for securing justice on Chandigarh and other areas where Punjabis in general and Sikhs in particular have been brazenly discriminated against?  I am surprised that he calls himself the CM of Punjab even after surrendering the claim of his own state on Chandigarh, forgetting the sentiments and countless sacrifices by our people on one of the most critical and emotional issues.”

Badal said that it seemed that a deep conspiracy is at work to rob Punjab of its legitimate rights and claims on crucial issues including Chandigarh, “and the Punjab CM has become a willing tool in this conspiracy. What a coincidence that the Union Home Minister Amit Shah, the Haryana Chief Minister  Mr Manoihar Lal Khattar and the Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann are issuing identical statements on Chandigarh at the same time! Would you blame Punjabis for seeing  an anti Punjab conspiracy in these statements?”

 Reacting strongly to a statement by the Union Home Minister   Amit Shah’s statement that the center would allot separate land in Chandigarh to Haryana for building its own Vidhan Sabha premises, Mr Badal said,, “The center has no right to allot even an inch of Chandigarh to Haryana as the city belonged entirely, exclusively and inalienably to Punjab and its status as a Union Territory is a strictly temporary arrangement pending its transfer to Punjab.”

   “ Instead of making utterly untenable statements on allotting anything from Chandigarh to Haryana, the Center must immediately implement its sacred and written commitment to transfer Chandigarh to Punjab,” the Akali leader added.

He further said that that the  Government of India “has long overstayed its welcome in Punjab’s capital and it must realise that its status in the City is at best one of a strictly temporary caretaker till the actual and rightful owner, Punjab,  takes actual possession of its own asset. Center has no legal, moral or constitutional right to cede even a centimeter of Chandigarh land to Haryana as the land does not belong to center as an owner but only as caretaker,”  said Mr Badal, cautioning the govt of India  against provoking unnecessary controversies and stirring old wounds in Punjab. “Instead, I request the Union Home Minister to undo this as well as  other cases of grave injustice done to Punjabis in general and the Sikhs in particular  by successive Congress  governments in the past.

Badal said the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab has never been a matter of dispute. Even in 1966, the then Union Govt had declared that there was no dispute on the status of Chandigarh as it “belongs to Punjab and will be transferred to Punjab.”

  The SAD chief further said that Chandigarh’s transfer to Punjab “is a sacred national commitment in writing. That commitment not only carries the signatures of the country’s successive  Prime Ministers but was also signed into a legal and constitutional commitment by Rajiv Gandhi in his official capacity as  PM of the country on July 24, 1985. Further, this   commitment was   endorsed by both Houses of the Parliament which approved the draft known as Memorandum of Understanding on Punjab, popularly referred to as the Punjab Accord. Centre cannot go back on this sacred constitutional, executive as well as parliamentary  commitment. The then SAD president and icon of peace and communal harmony , Sant Harchand Singh ji Longowal laid down his life for this sacred cause. Center must not disrespect the commitment made to the people of Punjab signed with a martyr’s blood.

Badal said that the commitment that Chandigarh belongs to Punjab was subsequently accepted and endorsed  by the people of Haryana through their elected representatives in the Haryana Vidhan Sabha. He said that   the Home Minister Sh Amit Shah may not be fully aware of the details of Centre’s as well as Haryana’s written commitment on the transfer of Chandigarh to Punjab. “As a matter of fact, the transfer was to take place on January 26, 1986. “ It is an outright and brazen injustice to Punjab that that commitment still awaits fulfillment. I request  Amit Shah to get this injustice vacated immediately and transfer Chandigarh to Punjab without any further delay.”