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The decision to divide Uttar Pradesh
into four states by Chief Minister Mayawati has set a new agenda
in the state's politics. This will have far reaching consequences
for the coming assembly polls as well.
The demand to divide Uttar Pradesh into four states is nothing
new. It had been a long-standing demand from former prime minister Charan Singh that western Uttar Pradesh be carved out into a
separate state. Similarly the advocates, youth and peasants of
western Uttar Pradesh had been demanding a separate bench of the
high court in Meerut, an important city of western Uttar Pradesh
and close to Delhi, on the grounds that the existing high court in
Allahabad was too far to travel to and took many days.
Another region known as Bundelkhand too has been asking for a
separate state. There have been dharnas, street protests and
hunger strikes by the intelligentsia of Bundelkhand which drew
wide support from all sections of the society cutting across party
lines in the region. This area is also one of the most backward
and underdeveloped regions not only in the state but in the
country as well. Agriculture here suffers due to lack of
irrigation facilities and other modernisation initiatives.
Similarly, Poorvanchal or eastern Uttar Pradesh suffers from
backwardness in all spheres of developmental and social indexes.
The region attributes this to the policy of neglect by the ruling
powers. In spite of being the most fertile region of Uttar
Pradesh, the agriculture yield is low due to non-availability of
inputs required by the farmers. They are not provided with any
assistance whatsoever due to unwillingness of the state and a
policy of indifference adopted by officials and the bureaucracy.
The Awadh region or the fourth segment is a very important
political region. Kanpur, which was once a hub of textiles, is now
a decrepit town with a huge sick industry. Other industries are no
better as progress has completely choked due to lack of
electricity and other modernisation inputs. There has been a
flight of skilled labour into other regions of the country because
of low income and economic depression in central Uttar Pradesh.
Faizabad, popularly known as Ayodhya, saw the demolition of the
Babri Masjid, and surrounding areas like Tanda which had a huge
handloom industry came to a halt at that time. At one time it was
one of the well known areas of weavers and handicraft workers.
This area also has the largest orchards of mango and guava and
other cash crops. But due to complete apathy towards modernising
these institutions, there is a feeling of neglect.
Uttar Pradesh also needs to be viewed historically to understand
the different facets of the problem it is facing today. The
Britishers carved the province and called it United Provinces in
the early 20th century. This was also the region that revolted in
1857 against British rule. Rani Laxmi Bai of Jhansi raised the
banner of revolt against the British followed by the revolt of the
Nawab of Awadh and Sepoy Mutiny in Meerut. The colonial power
worked out a strategy whereby they created this province and made
Lucknow its capital.
The United Provinces was unmanageable for the purpose of revenue
system, and therefore even our colonial power divided it into
three major areas, namely zamindari system for Poorvanchal or
eastern region, talukdari system in the central region and
rayatwari system in the western region. This was an effective
system of revenue collection of the British Raj in the state.
Culturally these four regions of Uttar Pradesh are four distinct
entities. Bhojpuri is the dialect in eastern Uttar Pradesh or
Poorvanchal, Bundelkhandi is spoken in Buldelkhand, Awadhi is
spoken in the central region known as Awadh and Khariboli is
spoken in western Uttar Pradesh. Therefore the justification of
division on cultural and geopolitical grounds is very valid.
The most important argument in favour of dividing Uttar Pradesh is
the position taken by Bhim Rao Ambedkar, the architect of the
Indian Constitution. On the Vidharbha issue in 1953 in the united
Maharashtra, he was of the opinion that smaller states have good
governance and democratic practices where participation of people
is far more greater.
Similarly Jaya Prakash Narayan, the founder of the Indian
socialist movement and a great Gandhian, wrote in 1955 to then
prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru that the US which was less than
one third of India had 50 states in its federal structure of
governance, and therefore a country like India of its size and
magnitude should at least have 100 states for effective
governance. In such a system, democracy will have deeper roots and
will also spread widely.
In the light of history and logic, the decision taken by the
Mayawati government should be judged. Today, Uttar Pradesh has a
population of around 200 million. It could well be the fourth
largest country of the world after China, India and the US.
Therefore, the decision by the Uttar Pradesh assembly in passing
the resolution to divide the state into four is not a little too
soon. If there is any lacunae, let parliament debate this and can
take corrective measures because, principally, the BJP and the
Congress are both in favour of smaller states.
Sudhindra Bhadoria is
a social activist in Uttar Pradesh. The views expressed are
personal. He can be contacted at sudhinbhadoria@gmail.com
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