Decades-old demand for Vidarbha statehood on the wane?
“We don’t want to stay in Maharashtra anymore. We want a separate Vidarbha, we want injustices to stop,” said Anil Jawade while addressing a gathering at Sindi Railway, a small town in western Vidarbha’s Wardha district.
Jawade is contesting from Hinganghat Assembly constituency from the political outfit, Vidarbha Rajya Aghadi (VRA). It was formed by Shreehari Aney to push the demand for statehood. However, going by the number of people that attended the meeting on Sunday, it appears that interest over the decades-old demand is waning. Either the people have lost hope or are happy with the current BJP-led regime.
In 2014, statehood for Vidarbha was a major poll issue in both, the Lok Sabha as well as the Assembly elections. All pro-Vidarbha parties, including the BJP, had raised the issue vehemently. But five years down the line, the situation looks different. The demand for a separate Vidarbha seems to have fizzled out, with only a handful of parties trying to keep it alive.
Even BJP leaders from the region, including CM Devendra Fadnavis, who were vocal about the issue, have done little to push for statehood since then.
Aney said that they are disappointed with the Fadnavis government as it didn’t fulfil their promise. He is a senior lawyer from Nagpur, which is also Fadnavis’ hometown. He was appointed advocate general (AG) of the state on November 15, 2015. He resigned from the position following his controversial remarks that Maharashtra should be trifurcated. According to Aney, they formed the Vidarbha Nirman Mahamanch – a group of 12 pro-Vidarbha outfits, including the VRA – to keep the issue alive. Members of the outfit will contest as many as 40 of the total 62 Assembly seats in Vidarbha, said Aney. “We are very upset. Instead of barely agitating for the demand, our approach has now been to take it to the people in terms of elections. We want to keep the issue alive. Whether we will be elected or not, we will carry on the fight,” he said.
The roots of the issue
Despite being a Marathi-speaking region, Vidarbha has always had a distinct cultural identity. In December 1953, the Congress-led central government had constituted the state reorganisation commission, which recommended formation of Vidarbha as a separate state. Dr Babasaheb Ambedkar also supported Vidarbha’s demand for statehood, said Aney.
Aney’s grandfather, Madhav Aney won the Nagpur Lok Sabha seat as an independent candidate for the first in 1962. His only poll agenda: statehood for Vidarbha. In 1971, Jambuwantrao Dhote won the seat as a Forward Bloc candidate and in 1977, Raje Vishveswarrao won Chandrapur Lok Sabha on the same poll plank. In 2002, Dhote formed the Vidarbha Janata Congress to push the demand forward. former Congress leaders Vasant Sathe and NKP Salve formed Vidarbha Rajya Nirman Congress in 2003 and former MP Banwarilal Purohit formed Vidarbha Rajya Party in 2004. No party could not sustain the movement.
Backward region
Vidarbha is a net producer of power, and endowed with mineral and forest wealth, fertile soil and assured rain, compared to other parts of the state. However, it remains one of the most backward regions. This despite the fact that four chief ministers – Vasantrao Naik, Marotrao Kannamwar, Sudhakarrao Naik and incumbent CM Fadnavis – were from Vidarbha. Known for cotton production, it is reeling under the epidemic of farmer suicides, Maoist problems and drought. In the past five years, the state has faced three droughts with the one in 2018-19 being the most severe of the last few decades.
Ram Nevle, convenor, Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti, alleged that Congress didn’t give them statehood in the last 70 years while this is the second time that the BJP has betrayed the people of Vidarbha. The first time was in 2000, when then-PM Atal Bihari Vajpayee allowed the formation of three states, Chhatisgarh, Uttarakhand and Jharkhand, but not Vidarbha. The second time was when BJP came to power at the Centre and in the state in 2014, but failed to keep its promise.
According to Sudhir Mungantiwar, state finance minister and senior BJP leader from Chandrapur, they are waiting for absolute majority to move the resolution. “The promise of formation Vidarbha state is not new. It was passed as a resolution in the party’s national executive committee in Bhubaneshwar in 1996. We have never backtracked from our promise. The only hurdle we are facing is absolute majority in the state Assembly. The day we will get it, a resolution will be moved in the state,” he said.
While local Congress leaders such as NKP Salvi, Ranjeet Deshmukh and Vilas Muttemwar had supported the demand, the party itself had not. More than a decade ago, it had constituted a high-level committee headed by Pranab Mukherjee to look in to the demand. The recommendations were never made public. “We have never received any directives from the leadership over the committee’s recommendations. I would not be able to tell you party’s official stand on it,” said former state Congress chief Manikrao Thakre.
NCP maintained they are with the sentiment of the people of Vidarbha. “Our stand has always been clear that we respect the people’s sentiments. However, our assessment says the people want development and not separate state,” said party spokesperson Nawab Malik. “Sena has always opposed division of the state. The stand was taken by our founder Balasaheb Thackeray, and current party president Uddhav Thackarey is also of the same view. We are very clear that Maharashtra should be united,” said senior Sena leader and Rajya Sabha MP Anil Desai.
Why no mass appeal
Kapil Chandrayan – who studied the region while working on his doctorate – said a major reason that prevented the movement from gaining mass appeal is the lack of credibility of its leaders. “Going by the history, all the parties raised the issue only when they were not in power, be it Congress or BJP. The other type of political parties raising the issue are those who don’t have their own ideology or agenda. That is why people don’t find it appealing. That is where the credibility issue comes up and such parties never get mass support,” he said.
Chandrayan, also an expert member of the Vidarbha development board, said genesis of the demand had come from a feeling of injustice in terms of economic growth compared to other regions, especially western Maharashtra. This has reduced with BJP coming to power and leaders from Vidarbha getting good representation in the government. “The BJP has brought a good amount of investment and development. Trust deficit has reduced in urban areas, but the rural population is struggling,” he said.