The story so far: Earlier this month, Punjab Chief Minister Bhagwant Mann came under fire from the Opposition after his Delhi counterpart Arvind Kejriwal chaired a meeting of senior bureaucrats from the border State. The Opposition alleged that the absence of Mr. Mann proved that Aam Aadmi Party (AAP) was running Punjab from Delhi by remote. Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann, however, clarified that the officers had gone to New Delhi for training on his orders. Days later, on his two-day visit to the national capital to study the “Delhi model”, Mr. Mann signed a Knowledge Sharing Agreement (KSA) with Delhi to facilitate the sharing of knowledge.
The deal has provided fresh ammunition to the Opposition against the AAP-led governments, with Congress and BJP calling the pact “a lie agreement” and a “black day” in the history of Punjab.
What are the provisions of the Knowledge Sharing Agreement?
On April 26, the Chief Ministers of Delhi and Punjab signed the knowledge-sharing agreement to “learn and share” their knowledge, experience and skills for public welfare. “The KSA enables the two governments to share knowledge, experience and skills for the mutual welfare of the people of their respective territories,” reads the agreement. The pact empowers the governments to send and receive ministers, officials and other personnel to exchange knowledge. The single-page agreement document doesn’t mention the procedure of this exchange of ideas and knowledge in detail.
Is the Punjab-Delhi agreement legally binding on governments?
No, the agreement signed between Delhi and Punjab is not legally enforceable. This means that a court can’t compel a party to act as per the agreement’s provisions. The clause is mentioned in the signed pact.
What was the need of the agreement: CMs speak
New experiment, says Mr. Kejriwal: Stating that the “first-of-its-kind” initiative marks a new experiment in India's history, the Delhi CM said, “There have been several islands of excellence across the country at different points in time at different geographies. However, the one department that the country lacked was the spirit of exchange of ideas and learning from one another.”
Mr. Kejriwal added, "[As a country] We did not make the effort to follow the lead of these exceptional islands, as we continued to stand divided along state and party lines. We kept on reinventing the wheel instead of building more advanced mechanisms out of it. Hence, this Knowledge Sharing Agreement is a new kind of collaboration, through which we will ensure that the praises which are being sung about Delhi’s health and education models all over the world today, reflect for Punjab soon.”
Punjab CM calls the pact a watershed moment: After signing the agreement, Mr. Mann said education, health and power are the priorities for his government and Punjab can learn from Delhi where a lot of work has been done in these fields.
He said his government will replicate the Delhi government’s “revolutionary endeavours” and exuded confidence that the pact will benefit the people of Punjab immensely. “We will make the best use of each other’s knowledge. We will make Punjab Hasta-Khelta-Rangla Punjab again,” the CM said.
‘Undemocratic’: Why is the Opposition up in arms?
Ever since Mr. Mann took oath as the Punjab CM in March this year, there has been persistent criticism of the AAP government. The Opposition has alleged a shift in power centre from Chandigarh to New Delhi. Displeased with the agreement with Delhi, political opponents of the Punjab CM renewed their attack and accused Mr. Mann of “institutionalising interference” and “surrendering his authority”.
Punjab Pradesh Congress Committee President Raja Warring called the agreement was an “instrument of surrender”. “Mann Sahib education and healthcare on the concurrent list yet administrative decision in Implementation of schemes is done by state government whose employees are accountable to state assembly. What administrative invention is this to bypass constitutional conventions (sic),” he tweeted.
Congress Legislature Party (CLP) leader in the Punjab Assembly Partap Singh Bajwa termed the pact undemocratic. “The agreement between @PunjabGovtIndia and Delhi Govt is akin to inviting the British to ‘safeguard’ the Maharajah as requested by the Lahore Durbar in 1846. It is a complete abrogation of responsibility on behalf of the Govt of Punjab to its people.”
“Such an agreement will ensure that Punjab Govt is essentially a colony outpost of @ArvindKejriwal ji. No transparency, no accountability and a complete selling off Punjab to Delhi in perpetuity,” Mr. Bajwa posted on Twitter. “The Punjab unit of AAP has chosen self-interest and power over the people they proclaimed to represent. This agreement is fundamentally anti-democratic,” Mr. Bajwa added.
Shiromani Akali Dal chief Sukhbir Badal also hit out at the Punjab CM. “Black Day for Punjab: CM @BhagwantMann institutionalises Delhi Govt interference in Punjab by signing MoU today,” Mr. Badal said.
Delhi Congress president Anil Kumar, meanwhile, alleged that the agreement was Mr. Kejriwal’s "devious method to remote-control the Punjab government.” The KSA is a devious way to collect funds from Punjab to beef up the AAP coffers, Mr. Kumar said.
Leader of the Opposition in the Delhi Assembly Ramvir Singh Bidhuri asked Mr. Kejriwal to “stop the spectacle” and focus on the problems of Delhi.
The Punjab CM hits back
In a video message on Twitter, Punjab CM Bhagwant Mann accused the Opposition of unleashing propaganda against his government and reiterated his commitment to serving the people of Punjab. “You need knowledge to read the agreement. And little knowledge is too dangerous. Don’t criticise for the sake of it,” Mr. Mann said.
The Punjab CM also cited Sukhbir Badal and his father Parkash Singh Badal’s study tours to China and Ontario province of Canada. “Were your governments being run by China and Ontario then,” Mr. Mann asked.
Mr. Kejriwal also hit out at opposition parties over their criticism of the governments. "Manish Sisodia (Delhi Deputy Chief Minister and Education Minister) visited Europe and Finland to learn about their education system. It will be stupid if someone says the Delhi government is being run by Finland,” Mr. Kejriwal remarked.
