#dnaEdit: Uncertain state

Sunday, the penultimate day for electioneering in Maharashtra, occasioned a string of tall, if not impossible to honour, promises by major political parties. Unsurprisingly, Sharad Pawar tried to gain extra mileage by saying that the Election Commission should hold a referendum in Vidarbha to gauge public sentiment for separate statehood. The NCP patriarch may have based his statement on the findings of a survey carried out in the region by a local daily. The newspaper has allegedly discovered overwhelming support to the cause. According to the survey, in some pockets of Vidarbha, the local Shiv Sena leaders too appeared amenable, even when its top leadership is vehemently opposed to the bifurcation of the state.

The demand for separate statehood, though in existence for long, never generated fiery passions akin to the Telangana movement. Vidarbha being a Congress bastion, the drive had gradually lost steam. Notwithstanding a poor show of its coalition partner NCP in the 2009 state elections, the Congress secured the highest percentage of votes ever in its last five terms, but won only 24 seats.

The BJP, a strong advocate of smaller states, by virtue of being in alliance with the Sena till recently, could do precious little, though it swept the 2014 general elections, winning six out of the 10 Lok Sabha seats. In the run-up to the assembly polls it has been extremely guarded about the separate statehood issue, lest it jeopardise its poll prospects. But former BJP president and now Union minister of highways, Nitin Gadkari, has dropped enough hints that a separate state for Vidarbha might well become a reality.

In a wealthy state like Maharashtra, Vidarbha stands out as a picture of neglect, lagging far behind the prosperous western Maharashtra. A victim of successive state governments’ apathy, it has become synonymous with suicides of cotton farmers, extreme backwardness and poverty. Lack of industries has only contributed to swelling unemployment and mass migration to Mumbai and other cities in the state. The tribal-dominated districts of Gadchiroli, Gondia and Chandrapur are considered support bases of Naxalites.

It is perceived, and perhaps not without reasons, that the region would benefit if carved out of the state. But, even if the BJP comes to power in Maharashtra with absolute majority, it cannot realise this dream anytime soon. The Sena, which was born out of the legacy of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement that led to the deaths of 105 people and resulted in the formation of Maharashtra on the basis of linguistics in 1960, will bitterly oppose any such move. Let’s not forget that the Sena-BJP alliance at the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation has weathered the split at the assembly level. Any move for a Vidarbha state will also propel the Sena and the MNS to ratchet up efforts for the inclusion of Marathi-dominated parts of Karnataka’s Belgaum in Maharashtra. The BJP in Karnataka is unlikely to yield to such a demand, thus creating the possibility of a spiral of violence in both the states. Given the importance of Maharashtra in the BJP’s scheme of things, it cannot afford widespread unrest and risk voters’ disenchantment.

Emotions and rabble-rousing aside, a separate state for the people of Vidarbha was recommended by the States Reorganisation Commission way back in 1955, even before Telangana was proposed. That smaller states can be better governed, with the state administrations having stakes in local successes, is increasingly gaining credence. After all these years Vidarbha, too, might stand to benefit from a split. A decision on statehood ought to be taken keeping the people’s interests in mind. It should not be held hostage by post-poll compulsions.