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Chandigarh, Nov 23 (IANS) Shiromani Akali Dal (SAD), once one of the oldest allies of the BJP, on Sunday announced the convening of an emergency meeting of the party’s core committee to plan and prepare a strong and decisive response against the “anti-Punjab” Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill, which seeks to include the Union Territory of Chandigarh under Article 240.
Party president Sukhbir Badal wrote on Twitter, “I have called an emergency meeting of the core committee of the party at the party headquarters in Chandigarh at 2 pm on Monday.”
He assured the people of Punjab that the party will fight this “anti-Punjab bill and the blatant attack on the federal structure on every front and this move of the Center will not be allowed to succeed”.
Badal reiterated that Punjab’s right over Chandigarh is non-negotiable.
According to the bulletins of Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha, the government will introduce the ‘Constitution (131st Amendment) Bill 2025’ in the upcoming winter session of Parliament, which begins on December 1.
The bill proposes to include Chandigarh under the ambit of Article 240 of the Constitution, which empowers the President to make rules and directly legislate for the Union Territory. This would pave the way for the appointment of an independent administrator or Lieutenant Governor, a move that is likely to weaken Punjab’s claim on Chandigarh.
Joining the issue, AAP national convenor Arvind Kejriwal said the attempt by the BJP-led central government to “take away Punjab’s right over Chandigarh” through constitutional amendments was “not part of any general move, but a direct attack on Punjab’s identity and constitutional rights”.
Kejriwal, whose party is in power in Punjab, wrote on Twitter, “This mentality of breaking the federal structure to snatch away the rights of Punjabis is extremely dangerous.”
“This is not just an administrative decision but it hurts the soul of Punjab. History is witness to the fact that Punjabis have never bowed their heads before any dictatorship. Punjab will not bow even today.”
Kejriwal reiterated, “Chandigarh belongs to Punjab and will always remain Punjab.”
Terming it as yet another ‘drastic step’ by the central government against the state, Chief Minister Bhagwant Singh Mann said the state government will not allow any conspiracy by the BJP-led NDA government to snatch Chandigarh from the state.
In a statement, the Chief Minister said Chandigarh was, is and will always be an integral part of the state, adding that the amendment proposed by the Central government to include the capital of Punjab in Article 240 of the Constitution along with other Union Territories will not be allowed in the upcoming session.
He argued that although each original state has the sole right to its own capital, “grave injustice” has been done to the state by refusing to give Punjab its capital, adding that Punjab has the sole right to its own capital.
CM Mann said, “It is a naked truth that the central government is doing grave injustice to the state by conspiring to snatch away our capital from us”.
The Chief Minister said that there was hardly any example of a parent state becoming devoid of capital, as has happened in the case of Punjab.
He said that no one can deny the fact that Punjab, being the parent state, has the sole right over its capital Chandigarh.
The Chief Minister said that apart from Punjab, there would hardly be any such example in the country where after the formation of linguistic states, the parent state was deprived of its capital.
–IANS
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