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STATES:
UTTARANCHAL
Sad
State
They may
have a state now, but those who led the agitation are unhappy with both
the capital and the chief minister they have got
By
Subhash Mishra
When
Uttaranchal's first Chief Minister Nityanand Swami recently reached the
new state's capital, Dehradun, the welcome he got was less than rousing.
The town wore a deserted look; no banners or hoardings were in evidence.
Of the BJP's 17 MLAs, only one had come to the railway station to receive
him. The mood all round was one of discontent.
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| Barnala,
Swamy and Joshi with the map of the new state |
Normally,
the creation of a separate state should have been a festive occasion,
but there has been very little of that in Uttaranchal's case. Instead,
battlelines are being drawn once again. "Our boys did not sacrifice
their lives during the Uttarakhand agitation to get a state with its capital
in the plains and to have a governor and a chief minister imposed on us
by Delhi," said an angry Shamsher Bahadur Singh Bisht of the Jan
Sangharsh Morcha, the organisation that was in the forefront of the agitation
for a separate state in the 1990s.
Any euphoria
over the creation of the new state vanished the moment the BJP central
leadership announced that the 74-year-old Swami would be Uttaranchal's
first chief minister."How can we accept him? He joined the BJP not
very long ago. And he does not belong to the hills," lamented Vimla
Negi, convener of the BJP Mahila Morcha.
Many BJP
party workers in the area consider the ex-Congressman an outsider since
he joined the party only in 1984. Locals have not forgotten the new chief
minister's role in the Uttarakhand movement, either. At the height of
the agitation, Swami is known to have spent most of his time in Lucknow
away from the fray.
The selection
of Dehradun for the state capital, even as a provisional measure, has
also made Uttarakhand activists livid. The people in the hills have always
considered Dehradun part of the plains as it is situated in the foothills.
"It's
ridiculous that the capital of a hill state should be in the plains. We
certainly did not lead the movement to see this day. You will see the
launch of a fresh movement very soon," thundered Rajiv Lochan Shah,
Uttaranchal activist and a senior Nainital-based journalist. Shah will
not lack support. Two days before the creation of the state, more than
31 organisations participated in a "warning rally". The protest
ended with activists vowing to "continue to fight to have the state
capital shifted from Dehradun to Gairsain in Chamoli district". Gairsain
finds favour since it is equidistant from both the Kumaon and Garhwal
regions of the new state. It will nicely balance expectations of both
regions, unlike Dehradun which is in the Garhwal area.
But meeting
everyone's expectations on everything will be a very difficult tightrope
act indeed in a milieu where even the governor's appointment is being
viewed with suspicion.
Basic
Questions Remain: When Surjit Singh Barnala was named the state's
first governor, there was much rejoicing among the Sikhs who dominate
Dehradun and Udham Singh Nagar. Thousands of Sikhs lined up to welcome
him with chants of "Raj karega Khalsa". The hill people, ever
sensitive to fears of domination, were not happy. Most of them saw Barnala's
appointment as an attempt by the Centre to appease the Sikhs who had earlier
protested the inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar in the new state.
Trouble
is brewing, as few people in the hills are ready to accept the status
quo. As far as they are concerned, the Centre has not dealt with the basic
issues they raised: the plains versus hills debate, the allocation of
a proper state capital and state government. For years, Uttarkhandis had
fought not just for a geographical area but also for a separate socio-cultural
identity. At the moment, this remains elusive.
The state
now has 23 MLAs carried over from the Uttar Pradesh Assembly, but after
the delimitation exercise is done, between 40 and 45 assembly constituencies
will fall in the plains in Udham Singh Nagar, Dehradun and Hardwar. This
would in effect mean that the people from the plains will once again be
calling the shots in the new state Assembly. Their dominance is bound
to overshadow the socio-cultural identity of the people of this tiny state.
It was such
apprehensions that saw the creation of a separate state in the first place.
Now, with aspirations unmet, the stage is set for a fresh round of agitations.
Swami will have his task cut out for him, if the indications are anything
to go by. Already, there have been mobs of BJP party workers at the Uttaranchal
headquarters shouting "sangharsh hamara, raj tumhara, nahin chalega
(Our battle, your rule, won't do)". The oath taking ceremony-where
Union Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani and Human Resources Development
Minister Murli Manohar Joshi were present-had barely ended when hundreds
of youths stormed the dais shouting slogans against him and demanding
Gairsain as the capital. So far Swami has remained aloof, preferring to
keep his own counsel. How he handles the situation remains to be seen.
But for a man who has not contested elections in two decades, the sudden
heat of battle could be a bit too much to handle.
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