Rattled by the latest Supreme Court advisory to the President, the Punjab Government has denotified the SYL land for the second time in eight months, exercising executive powers. The earlier legislative effort was thwarted by the Governor who did not give consent to the Bill passed. Opposition cooperation, available then, was missing now as the Congress dubbed it “political gimmickry” and stayed away from the Assembly session which passed a resolution against the construction of the SYL Canal and in favour of collecting a cess from the states using river waters passing through Punjab.Citizens as well as political leaders understand that inter-state disputes cannot be settled through unilateral action. The 2004 water agreement termination Act was passed with fanfare; but Capt Amarinder Singh did not get the expected political mileage in the ensuing election despite a massive show of misplaced boldness. That presumably bold action, in fact, delayed efforts towards an acceptable solution as Punjab was dragged to a needless, costly legal battle. This time fortunately the Governor put his foot down, denying Chief Minister Badal a chance to go on a similar legislative misadventure. Irrational remedies Badal is trying these days are bound to be challenged in court. Punjab has lost thrice in the Supreme Court despite having a strong case on its water rights. As expected, Haryana plans to move the Supreme Court for SYL Canal construction and an NGO has filed a contempt plea against Badal. It remains to be seen whether the Centre helps Badal gain political martyrdom he is seeking by doing what appeals to sentiment more than reason. Months before the Supreme Court ruling he had been trying to work up passions with disappointing results. It will be clear only after the 2017 elections whether people see him as a protector of Punjab waters or a dated politician trying old tricks. Political parties in Punjab are divided on SYL. At the end, solutions have to be workable and agreeable, in compliance with the established constitutional, judicial and democratic norms, not the ones that pit one state and its people against the other.

Chandigarh, November 13. 2016

By the time of the1962 Assembly battle, the electoral chess board had been redone. The Akali Dal, which had subsumed itself under the Indian National Congress during the 1957 polls, was now a contestant and was fighting on the plank of a Punjabi Suba, contesting 47 seats. Nehru, predictably, led the Congress charge.  During his campaign speeches made during these elections in January 1962 while a three-day visit to the state, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru reiterated his vision of “building a new India of our dreams, both economically and socially.” Like in the previous elections, the Congress had fielded candidates in each of the 154 Assembly seats. The number of candidates put up by the Communist Party decreased from 67 to 47, but for the Jan Sangh, the candidates increased from 62 to 80.  The Republicans fielded 26 and the Praja-Socialist Party 10. Speaking at Basic Training College, Chandigarh, Congress leader and Planning Commission member Shriman Narain sounded prophetic when he said: “if we fail to link our educational programme with developmental schemes in different sectors of national economy, we shall be sowing the seeds of friction and even disaster in our social and economic life.”Developmental high notes aside, Punjabi language and Punjabi Suba dominated the loudspeakers at the state level. In order to assuage those who blamed his government for not implementing the ‘Regional Formula’, Jawaharlal Nehru appointed a Commission of inquiry headed by S R Das, a former Chief Justice, to ascertain if there was any injustice in the delay in implementing the formula. In his election speeches, we find him defending the Commission he had set up. As for the Akalis, two leaders — Sant Fateh Singh and Master Tara Singh — continued to push for the Punjabi Suba movement. Many SAD workers courted arrest and these leaders undertook “fast-unto-death” but broke the fast after they got some assurances. This eventually cost them and the movement its sheen.