small states : BIG ISSUES

It started with Telangana, or was it Gorkhaland? One can’t be really sure the demand for which new state was the propellant but there can’t be diversity of views that the issue of smaller states has come with full force onto the national picture and will remain there for some time.
Due credit for it must be given to the three parties involved, viz KC Rao, the media, and the Central Government. It took the “historical” step of KC Rao to go on fast unto death, the prominence given to it by the media and the perfect example of ineptness exhibited by the Central Government to make big the issue of small states. So much so that fasting unto death has become the latest technique to hog the limelight.

KC Rao political career has been revolving around the issue of Telangana for quite some time now. But his graph took a dip in the last Parliamentary elections in May. Devoid of the political numbers he was not in a position to bargain or to make others listen to him. The untimely death of YSR Reddy created a vacuum in the Andhra political scene and he capitalized on it to the fullest. He went on the fast, made sure he grabbed the limelight and got sudden and unexpected response from the Central Government, the Union Home Minister to be more precise. The media too played its part to perfection. Treating news as news is not something media prefers. It tends to make it more “presentable” and more “eye catching”. This is what it did in this case also. But its role was cut short in the drama by the sudden and hurried entry of P Chidambaram. At a time when the session of the Parliament was going on, Mr Chidambaram did not consider it wise to make any announcement in the Parliament, or discuss it in the cabinet. Rather he felt it much more sane to announce his government’s willingness to granting statehood to Telangana. What happened afterwards( and what continues to happen) in Andhra is now for everyone to observed.

Suddenly we were hearing demands for Gorkhaland, Harit Pradesh, Bundelhand, Poorvanchal, Greater Cooch Behar, Koorg, Vidarbha, Mithilanchal and some other small “potential” states. What is more disturbing is not the fast of KC Rao, but the manner in which this issue was dealt by the Home Ministry. KC Rao was within his rights to go to fast for his demand but the Government bungled things up, and bungled it big time. Others will not only believe but would want to believe that a government which acceded to the demand in such manner can do it again in future. Now The Government is flip flopping on its own statement. It is a big task infront of the Congress to deal with this issue in Andhra.

Similarly Gorkhaland issue is turning into a direction whose future is uncertain and unknown.The issue's seriousness can be gauged by the fact that today we don't have West Bengal Police in Darjeeling but rather "Gorkha Land Police, GLP" personnel policing the area.

But before the demand for any state is raised some fundamental questions must be raised.
1) What is the rationale behind the demand? Is it linguistic? Is it due to religion? Or is it due to the fact that the region has been neglected for a long time. Quite often the last reason in the actual reason. In such cases forming new states is definitely not a solution.
2) What is going to be the future of the new state? For a state to be successful it ought to have resources, whether it be human, mineral, forest or something else. How will the money flow into the state? Simply making a new state without any planning will make it a failed state where we will be again back to square one.
3) Who are going to be the leaders of the new state? This is a vital question to ask as we have the glaring example of Jharkhand in front of us. Before the formation of Jharkhand, this region was rich in minerals and forests. The future seemed bright. But due to lack of political leadership, lack of direction, lack of stability and lack of growth in infrastructure today questions are being raised to merge it back to Bihar.

We ought to remember that lot of money flows into the new state during the initial years. If this money is not channelized properly for growth the future of the state is doomed. Before arriving at any decision proper thinking and logic must be behind it. Lastly, we must always keep in mind that absence of the above will give us another case of “Small States : BIG issues”.