A few days after Mayawati proposed to divide Uttar Pradesh into four parts, political leaders from Maharashtra have renewed their clamour for a separate state, Vidarbha.
A few days after Mayawati proposed to divide Uttar Pradesh into four parts, political leaders from Maharashtra have renewed their clamour for a separate state, Vidarbha.
Of the 35 districts and 288 assembly seats in the state, the Vidarbha region comprises 11 districts and 62 assembly seats. All political parties, except the Shiv Sena, are for smaller states.
Several NGOs, representing the cotton-growing farmers, have decided to join the Congress, the NCP and the BJP in their demand for a separate state. The Vidarbha Jan Andolam Samiti has taken the lead to unite politicians across the spectrum in this fight.
“The creation of Vidarbha is inevitable for the socio-economic development of the region,” MLA Devendra Fadnavis of the BJP said. “Also, Maharashtra stands to gain from the split. It will get more than Rs20,000 crore from the Centre.”
Fadnavis, an expert in economics, explained how Maharashtra would benefit. “The Planning Commission allocates funds to states based on income distant methods. Currently, Maharashtra falls in the higher income category,” he said. “Once it loses the Vidarbha region it will fall in the middle income category. This will make it eligible for additional funds of up to Rs25,000 crore from the Centre. And Vidarbha will get Rs10,000 crore.”
The Samiti might be trying to unite political parties but politicians have started the game of one-upmanship. Sudhir Mungantiwar, state chief of the BJP, said party workers would highlight how the Congress and the NCP have meted out injustice to the people of the region over the past several years. The BJP has also started a door-to-door campaign to mobilise support for a separate Vidarbha state.
Not to be left behind, a Congress functionary said MP Vilas Muttemwar has been fighting for Vidarbha for several years. And Manikrao Thakre, Maharashtra Pradesh Congress Committee (MPCC) chief, has already made his displeasure over water distribution in the state known to the party top brass in Delhi.
A former Congress minister said caste politics dominate the governance. “Every year, the state budget is tailored to develop western Maharashtra, home to the ruling Marathas,” he said. “The region gets maximum funds for irrigation while Vidarbha remains dry and farmer suicides keep growing.” At least 30,000 farmers — the highest among cotton-growing farmers in the country — have killed themselves in Vidarbha over the past 10 years.
Vidarbha needs 1,200MW and it generates a surplus power of 4,200MW. But the region still faces power cuts for eight hours because the additional power is diverted to Mumbai, Nashik, Pune and parts of Thane.
The power cuts have also affected industrialisation. Vidarbha, rich in minerals, could fetch up to Rs5 lakh crore through mining. But there are only two industries currently functioning. Unable to cope with the power cuts, several companies either have left or have downed shutters.
Fadnavis said the Vidarbha region has vast swathes (at least 35 lakh hectares) of non-irrigated land. “But to make it irrigable, we would need at least Rs1 lakh crore. And this can happen only when Vidarbha is carved out of Maharashtra,” he said. “Projects languishing in western Maharashtra take up most of the funds from the annual irrigation budget.”
Kishore Tiwari, chief of Kisan Jan Andolan, said smaller states would soon become a reality because it “helps in better administration and development”.
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