Chandigarh has once again returned to national focus, not only because of recent political controversies but because the Centre’s moves on the now-stalled Chandigarh Reorganisation Bill and the withdrawn Panjab University (PU) overhaul proposal have revived an old fault line. These abrupt shifts expose a deeper problem: key decisions on Chandigarh continue without acknowledging the city’s fraught constitutional and linguistic history.
Understanding the present requires revisiting the Punjabi Suba movement, the linguistic demarcations of the 1950s, the turbulence of the 1960s and the unfulfilled prime ministerial assurances that still define the dispute.
The linguistic foundations
A decisive moment came in October 1956 when Home Minister Govind Ballabh Pant convened a conference to address growing resistance to the State Reorganisation Commission’s recommendations and the demand for a Punjabi-speaking state. A committee headed by the Punjab Chief Minister proposed dividing Punjab into Punjabi and Hindi regions broadly along district lines, with two exceptions: Jind and Narwana tehsils were placed in the Hindi region, while Ropar and Kharar were identified as Punjabi-speaking.
The Constitution (Seventh Amendment) Act, 1956 enabled the creation of regional committees for these linguistic zones. Punjab notified its division on July 4, 1957. Governor C P N Thakur reaffirmed in the Assembly that Ropar and Kharar were Punjabi-speaking. Yet when the Boundary Commission headed by Justice J C Shah redrew the map in 1965 and 1966, it allotted the entire Kharar tehsil to Haryana using the flawed 1951 census.
The Official Language Act, 1960 formalised Punjabi in the Punjabi region and Hindi in the Hindi region. Weak implementation sparked unrest. Nearly 50,000 people were arrested during the 1960 Punjabi language agitation. By 1965 the Punjabi Suba demand had regained enough force for the Union Home Minister to promise a cooperative settlement.
The 1966 reorganisation
On November 1, 1966 Punjab, already fragmented by Partition, was further split. Haryana was created. Shimla and Kangra were transferred to Himachal Pradesh. Punjabi-speaking villages were reassigned. Most critically, Punjab lost its capital. Chandigarh, along with 22 surrounding villages, was carved out of Punjab and made a Union Territory under direct Central rule. Overnight, Punjab was trifurcated.
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The sense of loss in Punjab was immediate. Justice Gurdev Singh Dutt, a member of the Boundary Commission, dissented, insisting that Chandigarh belonged to Punjab. Protests followed. Sant Fateh Singh prepared for self-immolation until Prime Minister Indira Gandhi, through Speaker Hukam Singh, assured him that Chandigarh would be restored. Sardar Pheruman’s death by fasting soon after showed the emotional force of the demand.
Prime ministerial assurances
In 1971 and 1972, Indira Gandhi announced that Chandigarh would be given to Punjab, with Fazilka and Abohar going to Haryana as compensation. She reiterated this on June 2, 1984 during her broadcast on the eve of Operation Bluestar.
Rajiv Gandhi attempted a settlement through the 1985 Punjab Accord with Sant Harchand Singh Longowal. Article 7.1 clearly stated that the Chandigarh Capital Project Area would be transferred to Punjab and that adjoining areas would revert to their linguistic regions. The transfer was scheduled for January 26, 1986, but intense opposition in Haryana led by Devi Lal derailed it.
Commissions and stalemates
Article 7.2 of the Accord required identifying Hindi-speaking areas in Punjab that could be transferred to Haryana. Three commissions examined this but found no workable solution.
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• Mathew Commission identified 83 Hindi-speaking villages in the Fazilka and Abohar belt but ruled out their transfer because the Punjabi village Khandu Khera lay in between, breaking contiguity.
• Venkatachaliah Commission moved beyond linguistic criteria, floated a twin-city idea and recommended transferring 70,000 acres of Punjab land to Haryana.
• Desai Commission was rejected by Punjab after earlier failures showed no distinct Hindi-speaking pockets existed.
The underlying fact remains that there are no clearly demarcated Hindi-speaking villages within Punjab. Punjabi is the mother tongue across communities.
The unresolved conclusion
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Chandigarh stands on Punjab’s soil and was built as its capital. Refugees from West Punjab who settled there still speak some of the purest Punjabi. By every linguistic, historical, cultural, socio-economic, legal and political measure, Chandigarh belongs to Punjab. Justice requires that the long-standing commitment to transfer Chandigarh be honoured.
The writer is a former councillor
