Marathon debate on Vidarbha

By Arunkumar Bhatt

NAGPUR, DEC. 1. A short debate initiated under Rule 101 in the Maharashtra Legislative Assembly last Tuesday is destined to be perhaps the longest one in the history of the House as the Speaker has clarified that every member was free to speak at any length for it is a sensitive subject: separation of Vidarbha.

When the Congress member, Mr. Satish Chaturvedi, initiated the debate making a forceful demand for the separation ``to end the region's sufferings like discrimination, indifference and underdevelopment due to apathy of the rulers in Mumbai,'' nobody thought the debate would go on so long.

Since it was announced that besides leading protagonists of Vidarbha, the leader of the Opposition, Mr. Narayan Rane, the BJP leader, Mr. Gopinath Munde and the Chief Minister, Mr. Vilasrao Deshmukh would speak and their respective strong and convenient views were well-known, Mr. Deshmukh had announced that he would not table any motion in favour of the formation of the new State.

But when the Opposition insisted and got a special session of 90 minutes today exclusively for Vidarbha debate, many thought it would conclude since the debate was to spill over into the regular session of the House. Even the day's agenda said the debate would continue later in the day ``if did not conclude (in the special session).

But when the House met, the Leader of the Opposition, Mr. Narayan Rane, who was on his legs since yesterday and had spoken non-stop for good two hours, continued today to take up most of the special session. Not to be outdone, the BJP stalwart and strong supporter of separation, former Finance Minister, Prof. Mahadevrao Shivankar got up and systematically demolished case against Vidarbha that Mr. Rane had built.

He was on his legs when the first week of the session ended in the evening and is well-prepared to resume his marathon talk on Monday. The BJP leader, Mr. Munde, said that as the debate prolonged, he got more time and opportunity to understand the problem better and hence would be able to speak longer.

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