The Mayawati Math
She's seeking a role beyond a state, but reorganising UP is overdue
Nilanjan Mukhopadhyay
When an empress or emperor suo motu begins the process of dismembering
the empire, we need to probe beneath the surface. For starters, the
hacking would have been initiated because of perceived gains in the
short run. Secondly, the process would also have been started because
of the confidence of being able to reinvent oneself in the
post-disintegration scenario. But, more importantly, the process may
have been initiated because of the realisation that sooner or later
the empire will either wilt on its own or the demand for dismantling
it would come from other quarters—then it would be too late to claim
any credit.
Mayawati is no empress yet. But the 2007 assembly polls in Uttar
Pradesh had elevated her to the level of a chieftain. With elections
round the corner, she has seized the initiative by calling for
dismantling the very state that gave her a comfortable majority. So
why has Behenji initiated the process of splitting UP into four new
states? To begin with, she knows that there is no way that new states
will be formed immediatel, while the resolution will enable her to
seek votes in the name of the promised lands.
Beyond this short-term electoral strategy lies a larger gameplan. The
Bahujan Samaj Party—like most other political parties with political
influence restricted to a state or two—has been a closely-held
organisation where the writ of the 'leader' runs large. In UP, the
party and government are synonymous with each other. By initiating the
formation of smaller states in place of the behemoth, Mayawati has
indicated that her sights are now set beyond the state.
She can neither be chief minister of all the four new states nor will
she be content with being CM of just one state. Clearly, she is
envisioning a bigger role for herself beyond today's UP. With this
move, Mayawati has indicated that she is prepared for regional
chieftains to emerge in the party. Purely from the point of
democratising Indian political parties, this is a positive outcome.
She has also made this move because she realises that states will only
become smaller in years to come. Instead of regional satraps being
firmly entrenched in a single state—as they are now—they will
henceforth have to wield political influence spread over a clutch of
states to emerge as gamechangers at the Centre in the coalition era.
The manner in which the Centre has (mis)handled the Telangana issue
has only upped the ante of votaries of smaller states. Movements for a
separate Vidarbha, Marathwada, Saurashtra, Mithilanchal, Bhojpur,
Coorg and several more are just waiting for the right moment to kick
off and add to the ongoing agitation for Gorkhaland.
The matter of reorganisation of states has engaged the political
leadership from the time of Independence. The Constituent Assembly
even appointed a committee and this was followed by the Nehru
government's decision in 1953 to establish the States Reorganisation
Commission (SRC) whose report formed the basis of redrawing India's
political map in 1956 and again in 1960. There were several
contradictions—and unresolved issues—in the SRC report. This has been
evident in the manner in which states were recast periodically—the
latest being in 2000 when Jharkhand, Uttarakhand and Chhattisgarh were
formed.
Unfortunately, the SRC did not sufficiently examine the option of
restructuring UP given its identity as 'heartland' and the belief that
whoever governed the state would rule India. The Congress clearly did
not wish to restructure UP, given its political hegemony in the state.
Even when Uttarakhand was hived off, few questions were raised about
the historical falsity of UP.
The behemoth was established as an administrative entity because of
the colonial conquest of what was initially called Upper India and
later became United Province. The Congress did not tamper with this
unit because of its emergence as a nationalist bastion during the
freedom struggle. But contradictions remained between people over
culture, dialect and political choice.
After having dragged its feet on forming a second states
reorganisation commission, the Centre must act swiftly if it does not
want a dozen Telangana-like situations in different corners of India.
Redrawing India's political map has become imperative as there is no
single principle in existence.
If Maharashtra and Gujarat exist separately for linguistic reasons,
then Chhattisgarh was carved out of MP for reasons of regional neglect
and development. This duplicity has to end. Smaller states will force
parties to become more democratic as 'high commands' will have more
chieftains to contend with. This would be good for Indian polity.
(The author is a print and TV journalist who looks closely at
political developments.)
------------------------------------
----
INFORMATION OVERLOAD?
Get all ZESTCaste mails sent out in a span of 24 hours in a single mail. Subscribe to the daily digest version by sending a blank mail to ZESTMedia-digest@yahoogroups.com, OR, if you have a Yahoo! Id, change your settings at http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/join/
PARTICIPATE:-
On this list you can share caste news, discuss caste issues and network with like-minded anti-caste people from across India and the world. Just write to zestcaste@yahoogroups.com
TELL FRIENDS TO SIGN UP:-
If you got this mail as a forward, subscribe to ZESTCaste by sending a blank mail to ZESTCaste-subscribe@yahoogroups.com OR, if you have a Yahoo! ID, by visiting http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join/
Also have a look at our sister list, ZESTMedia: http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTMedia/Yahoo! Groups Links
<*> To visit your group on the web, go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/
<*> Your email settings:
Individual Email | Traditional
<*> To change settings online go to:
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ZESTCaste/join
(Yahoo! ID required)
<*> To change settings via email:
ZESTCaste-digest@yahoogroups.com
ZESTCaste-fullfeatured@yahoogroups.com
<*> To unsubscribe from this group, send an email to:
ZESTCaste-unsubscribe@yahoogroups.com
<*> Your use of Yahoo! Groups is subject to:
http://docs.yahoo.com/info/terms/
No comments:
Post a Comment