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The Opposition parties in Punjab Wednesday skipped the much touted ‘open debate’ to which they were challenged by Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann to discuss issue pertaining to state, with the event turning into a monologue session for the Aam Aadmi Party leader who said it would have been “better” had the presidents of the political parties come and not “runaway” from presenting their views.
The CM also spoke at length on the Sutlej-Yamuna Link (SYL) canal — the issue on which the Opposition had been demanding the debate but which was never listed as agenda or ever found mention in the statements issued by Mann and other AAP leaders.
Even as Mann had issued a “khulla sadda” (open invitation) to ‘aam aadmi’ of Punjab to attend the session, the entire 
In the auditorium, Mann sat alone and addressed a select audience, as chairs placed along with slips carrying names of Opposition leaders — SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, and state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar– remained vacant.
The entry of media was also also prohibited inside the venue and only “select guests”, including AAP MLAs and their supporters, who had invites issued by the CMO were allowed inside. Police detained several protesters from PAU’s Gate No. 1 including unemployed teachers, farm union activists, health workers among others who tried to enter the venue or raised slogans against the government.
In the auditorium, Mann sat alone and addressed a select audience, as chairs placed along with slips carrying names of Opposition leaders — SAD president Sukhbir Singh Badal, Punjab Congress chief Amrinder Singh Raja Warring, Leader of Opposition Partap Singh Bajwa, and state BJP chief Sunil Jakhar– remained vacant.
As the ‘Main Punjab Bolda Haan’ which was broadcast live on the official social media and YouTube channel of Punjab government, started, Dr Nirmal Singh Jaura — the moderator appointed by the CM — requested Mann to wait for a few minutes in anticipation that Opposition leaders might join. Jaura also showered heaps of praise on Mann for “inviting opposition leaders and common Punjabis” to hold discussion on issues of Punjab.
Asked by the moderator to explain his concept of “Rangla Punjab”, Mann launched into a monologue saying that people watching the session were “becoming witness to history” on Punjab Day. “It’s a debate between me and those who ruled Punjab till now. I wish they had joined the debate, but they had started making excuses since the day I,” said Mann in his nearly hour-long address.
“It has happened for the first time that three parties that had ruled Punjab — SAD, Congress and BJP– have been ousted and defeated. It is the first time they have been questioned. This debate…was a courageous act on my part. I gave them 25 days to prepare. Had they got anything against me, they would have come,” said Mann. “If people rejected you and threw you out of power, that doesn’t mean your sins have been forgiven. We will seek answers,” he added.
Targeting opposition parties, Mann alleged that the previous governments compromised the state’s interests for political gains by allowing the construction of the SYL canal.
He said that a single Act — the Inter State River Water Disputes Act, 1956 — is applicable throughout the country for resolving water disputes among states. “But Punjab is the only state where a separate arrangement was made for the distribution of water between it and Haryana in the Punjab Reorganization Act, 1966,” said Mann, while alleging that the Centre has always discriminated against Punjab.
He said former prime minister Indira Gandhi, vide a notification dated March 24, 1976, divided the Ravi-Beas waters between Punjab and Haryana in the ratio of 50:50 even though Punjab Reorganization Act provided for 60:40 ratio. The then chief minister Giani Zail Singh (a Congress leader) ignored the interests of Punjab and acted as a “puppet” of the Union government, and on November 16, 1976, he received a cheque of Rs 1 crore from Haryana and accelerated the construction of the SYL canal, Mann alleged.
In 1978, the then chief minister Parkash Singh Badal (the late Shiromani Akali Dal patron) demanded Rs 3 crore more for the SYL canal, and took Rs 1.50 crore from the Haryana government in March 1979, Mann claimed.
The CM claimed claimed that Badal had issued a letter for the acquisition of land for the canal. The then Haryana chief minister Devi Lal (an INLD leader) had even made a statement in the Vidhan Sabha that “due to my personal relation with Parkash Singh Badal, the Punjab government has acquired the land under section 4 and 17 (emergency clause) for SYL canal.”
In 1981, a white-paper on the Ravi-Beas agreement was brought out by then CM Darbara Singh, highlighting the benefits of the SYL canal, he said.
“On April 8,1982, Indira Gandhi along with then Patiala MP Capt Amarinder Singh laid the foundation stone of the SYL canal at Kapoori village in Patiala. The one who came along with them was Balram Jakhar, father of Sunil Jakhar,” said Mann.
Mann said that even when Parkash Singh Badal was lodged in jail, he “kept writing letters to the Centre to escalate SYL construction.”
He said Akalis continued to compromise water rights of Punjab “when Parkash Singh Badal again became CM in 1998”.
Badal raised the height of the banks of the Bhakra Main Line canal by one feet with the sole intention of giving more water to Haryana and took Rs 45 crore from Haryana for this purpose, Mann claimed. “Badal did this sin only for the sake of building the 6-km long Balasar canal, which was constructed till his farmhouse by the Haryana government as a reward for his treachery with Punjab,” alleged Mann.
He said even former CM Surjit Singh Barnala (Akali Dal) never opposed SYL construction.
Mann said that there were at least three times when the same parties ruled at Centre and in Punjab and Haryana but even then the SYL issue was never sorted. “First was when Indira Gandhi was PM, Darbara Singh was Punjab CM and Bhajan Lal was Haryana CM; second came when Dr Manmohan Singh was PM, Capt Amarinder Singh was Punjab CM and Bhupinder Hooda was Haryana CM; and third came when Narendra Modi was PM, Parkash Singh Badal was Punjab CM and Manohar Lal Khattar was Haryana CM,” said Mann.
After coming to power, Mann said, his government has not filed any affidavit in the Supreme Court on the issue. “I have made it clear that we do not have a single drop of water to share. I have advised them to make it Yamuna Sutlej Link (YSL) Canal and give us surplus water from Yamuna instead,” he added.
“I have just shown a trailer and this is why none from the Opposition came. Had they come I would have answered their questions too,” the AAP leader said.
Mann said in 2018, the previous Congress government stopped the state roadways’ bus service to Delhi airport. “We restarted it. We have cancelled bus permits of several routes for buses owned by Badals and others. Maximum toll plazas in Punjab came up during the Amarinder Singh’s tenure. We have closed 14 of them,” said Mann.
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In a direct attack on former deputy CM Sukhbir Badal, Mann said, “eh taan shukar karo, party pardhaan naatey bula leya, nahi taan eho jiyan debatan tey eho jehe bande thodi bulaaye hunde hai (I invited him only because he is president of a party, else such people are not invited to such debates)”.
Mann also slammed the previous governments over the state debt issue.
“Today, people sitting here, have become witness to history in politics of not just Punjab, but the country. Such debates happen in the US and Canada where political opponents sit face to face and explain their agenda. Those countries value debates,” he said
While the SAD refused to take part in the debate saying it was a “PR exercise and PR stunt” of the AAP, dispensation in Punjab, its former ally BJP slammed it as a government sponsored and controlled event. Congress too refused to attend the debate stating that government never extended a formal invite and did not discuss modalities of the debate.
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