Don’t play billiards with calls for new states: Amar
Moves to create six more states got a boost when the National Federation for New States held its first meeting in Lucknow on Monday.
Moves to create six more states got a boost when the National Federation for New States held its first meeting in Lucknow on Monday.
The federation blamed the Centre and respective state governments for their policy of “managing by postponement” of the demand for new states.
The states demanded by the federation are Telangana (in Andhra Pradesh), Vidarbha (Maharashtra), Bundelkhand (Madhya Pradesh and Uttar Pradesh), Harit Pradesh and Purvanchal (UP) and Gorkhaland (West Bengal).
The federation unanimously elected expelled Samajwadi Party leader Amar Singh as its chairman in the presence of convener Raja Bundela of the Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha and co-convener P. Nirup Reddy of the Telangana Vikas Kendra.
Though Bundela said the federation would struggle for creation of new states without indulging in violence, Amar Singh warned of a “self-propelled public movement if the Centre and state governments dilly-dally on the issue”.
“Stop playing billiards and play football. Instead of the indirect approach like in billiards, the governments should kick and score goals like in football,” Amar Singh said. His statement suggested that the respective governments should be direct in their approach towards statehood for the six regions.
The federation is to hold its next meeting in Darjeeling at month-end. The federation, earlier known as the National Federation of Smaller States, went defunct after the creation of Uttarakhand, Chhattisgarh and Jharkhand.