Vidarbha and Statehood

By Mahesh Vijapurkar

THE POLITICAL flavour of the moment in Vidarbha, and to some extent in the rest of Maharashtra, is Statehood. Every leader - not the common man - is talking about it, including a large section in the Congress. They hope to tell Mrs. Sonia Gandhi today that public opinion favours Statehood for Vidarbha. Some have come out of the woodwork, as they do off and on, to speak again in favour of Statehood but are eliciting sharp adversarial response. That makes for a clear division of opinion at one level. Never, it must be conceded, in the recent decade has the statehood demand been pitched so high.

However, there is no public involvement in the issue; especially of the middle class in the region which is tired of politicians' public postures and grand promises. Any straw poll would indicate that the ``agitation'', if that is what it is, is seen more as an agenda of the leaders and not of the region's people. This is also because no credible leader has picked up the issue to generate a favourable public response and, more importantly, participation. But, is Vidarbha the real issue?

It is not that the people of the region would frown on Statehood being conferred on Vidarbha. But, are some political leaders like Dr. Srikant Jichkar, once a Minister, concede for the them ``to toil is not in our blood''. Statehood will be accepted if it happens but it is unlikely that they will agitate for it.

Samyukta Maharashtra (the larger, unified linguistic Marathi State which is even today an unfulfilled dream of the 1950s, with large Marathi-speaking chunks left with Karnataka, Belgaum and Karwar) is not any more a large emotional issue with the people. Most have begun to look, observers concede, for better options based on reason and economics and are not keen on being weighed down by any non-pragmatic emotional constraints. A region which moved into linguistic Maharashtra applying conditions is less likely to be enamoured of that concept.

Locals in Vidarbha want jobs that are scarce. Except in farming and trading, no significant investment has come in. Industrial activity is notional and grand plans of even a New Nagpur have not attracted funds and enterprise. They have dreams of better times; they want to be on a par with rest of the world. Will Statehood be a magic wand? They are not sure. What nags them is whether this is a genuine clamour of the leaders or a mirage raised once again?

Every State Cabinet in Maharashtra has had Ministers from Vidarbha. When providing Government jobs, every leader has always given the region its due. It is a sad commentary that these leaders now say they were rendered helpless by the vested interests of western Maharashtra in their bid to secure justice to the region. A trade union leader has this to say: ``These leaders from here (Vidarbha) sup with their friends in western Maharashtra and come back and tell us they could do little for us. If that was the case, why go and be a Minister in Maharashtra. Give up everything and get us Vidarbha.'' Or else, just develop the region.

When seniors in the Congress such as Mr. N. K. P. Salve admit publicly that in the past Congressmen were ``blackmailed'' by the high command to back down on the Vidarbha demand because the party's control of Maharashtra depended on the numerical support from the region, they were letting the cat out of the bag. One, that the partymen who now raise shrill demands for Statehood had once put the party above the region. Two, that the Congress did little to make things better for the region. Credibility, no wonder, has taken a knock.

When Mr. Sudhakarrao Naik, third person from the backward region of Vidarbha to be Chief Minister, announces that he would be the first - his ardour has dimmed somewhat because of the constraints of ``the party line'' of the Nationalist Congress Party - to move a resolution in the Maharashtra Legislature this winter, it also betrays the same fact: when they had an opportunity, little was achieved and now bets are being placed on Statehood as a cure for all ills. These things tend to add up to the opinion that leaders cannot be trusted.

In fact, there is no agreed, viable means of measuring public opinion on Statehood: who and how many are on which side. Mr. Sharad Pawar, easily the most influential person who can either make or mar the dream of a Vidarbha State, thinks a referendum is the best way to determine which way the wind blows. But the Centre will not agree to this since it has ramifications ``elsewhere'', meaning Jammu and Kashmir. Others like Mr. Datta Meghe, now a Minister, thinks dissolution of the Maharashtra Assembly and elections making Vidarbha the issue would be a good bet.

Others say the opinion of the elected representatives and party leaders is enough. This suggestion comes in the main from Congressmen who often print photographs of people on the dais at a pro-Vidarbha ``rally'' or ``meeting'' and never the audience. Each of these leaders - Mr. Vilas Muttemwar, Mr. Ranjit Deshmukh, Mr. Banwarilal Purohit, Mr. Nasikrao Tirupude et al - has run these conclaves separately but the audience has not grown. A bandh has been proposed for November 27 but that is a long way off. An assessment on this basis, of public opinion, is difficult.

Again, elections have not been a good barometer in the region. They never have. The BJP, despite its commitment to smaller States, could not put the Vidarbha Statehood issue in the joint manifesto with the Shiv Sena which continues to oppose dismembering the linguistic State. In 1995, the BJP-Sena together acquired 33 of the 66 seats from the region to the Assembly? Was it because the BJP favoured Statehood and the Sena opposed it? Did the Congress do better in the last Assembly or Lok Sabha polls despite not making Vidarbha the centrepiece of the campaign? No clear answers.

The Vidarbha Rajya Sangarsha Samiti had contested elections on the Statehood issue long ago. So had the Mahavidarbha Sangharsha Samiti. But they had little to show ( a couple of MPs and a handful of MLAs) by way of electoral gains. When Mr. Jambuwantrao Dhote led the movement, it was as fierce as it could get. Now, he is a burnt-out politician who has plighted his troth with the Shiv Sena which opposes formation of a new State. Or is it that the people had then wanted Vidarbha to be given a chance to develop under a larger linguistic State?

Which means, neither by the yardstick of an election nor an agitation has public opinion been mustered in favour of Vidarbha. Some do, however, trot out the fact that the Fazal Ali Commission on reorganisation of States conceded the viability of Vidarbha, but then, that was under the conditions then prevailing, comparing perhaps its assets with Madhya Bharat. If the leaders speak of that region's conditional merger as a big mistake, they have not yet explained why they tried little to secure justice in 40 long years of participation in an administration that ignored the region.

A lot will be said in the near future; political manoeuvres will be the order of the day. The BJP will remain smug asking the Congress to take up the issue in the Legislature. The NCP has already asked the BJP and the Congress to make up their minds before it responds because the other two parties have a better mandate by way of votes. The Shiv Sena will badger the BJP. And the people will watch and listen. Politics will be the key issue and not Vidarbha or its development.

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