BIFURCATION / TRIFURCATION OF A STATE

FROM SAMPATH’S DESK:

 

  

BIFURCATION OR TRIFURCATION OF A STATE

 

With the decision of the UPA (II) government at the Centre to clear the decks for bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, while there is expectedly a sense of euphoria, elation, jubilation and ecstasy in the territories of the bifurcated Telangana, a feeling of disappointment, dismay and frustration is descending in the rest of Andhra Pradesh where the unrest has already started manifesting in the form of stirs and agitations. The decision seems to be in line with the ‘option number five’ of the Srikrishna Report for creation of a new state Telangana with Hyderabad most likely to be declared as the ‘common capital’ till  ‘Seemandhra’ is able to build its own capital, say, in ten years. Realizing the sensitivities and complexities of the issue of division of A.P., the undercurrents and crosscurrents involved, and the likely hubbub and turmoil the state was likely to be plunged into, security in Andhra Pradesh was beefed up by deploying Central forces.

 

The genesis of the case is as follows:

 

For long, there was despair and despondency in the minds of people of Telangana districts about what they termed as ‘skewed economic development’ of their region with discrimination meted out to them in the matter of education and employment. The lurking undercurrents erupted in the form of agitations in 1969 and 1972 only to be subdued later. But with the coming into being of the Telugu Rashtra Samithi (TRS), the movement gained momentum and was carried out on a such a large scale that eventually made the Central Government to yield. Even though this long-drawn agitation has now succeeded, it is most likely to open the ‘Pandora’s Box’ for similar demands in other states of the country too.

 

(Subsequently, we had Uttarakhand carved out of Uttar Pradesh, Chhattisgarh out of Madhya Pradesh, and Jharkhand from Bihar.)

 

However, bifurcation per se is not the apt solution and end of the road. It doesn’t hold a magic wand to get what one wants. Even if bifurcation formula is finally thrashed out after pulls, pushes and pressure from different quarters especially the main stakeholders and the bill passed, still there might be scope for some grievances and/or heartburn issues surfacing among some sections which may feel affected or offended. Unless a ‘give-and-take’ policy is adopted, claims and counter-claims will continue to line up in an endless spiral. It is for the people of the composite Andhra Pradesh and its leaders to amicably and peacefully settle the issue threadbare and in nuts and bolts once and for all, so that no fissures or cracks crop up in future.

 

Be that as it may, the division of A.P. may have its resonance and reverberations in some other states too and possibly open the floodgates of similar calls and claims for partition of the existing states which our Central Government and national/regional leaders may have to carefully grapple with. It is likely to stir a Hornets’ nest in other parts of the country as well. The protagonists of division of the existing states, emboldened by the A.P. bifurcation, may pick up the gauntlet and up their sleeves for getting new states carved out, say, Bodoland in Assam, Gorkhaland in West Bengal, Bundelkhand in U.P./M.P., Vidarbha in Maharashtra, Harit Pradesh and/or Paschim Pradesh in U.P. One knows not, at least as of the moment, whether any further new state demands would be forthcoming in the days ahead?

Division is not the only fool-proof panacea for all-round, evenly spread out, and balanced development of all regions of the existing states. Decentralization of powers down the line to micro/grass-root levels and financial independence and autonomy coupled with matching and effective  administrative units only will work wonders. Only then, people of all the regions of the state will get satisfied in which case, demands for new states may not crop up. With creation of new states, there is imminent possibility of the intra-state disputes and rows becoming inter-state ones after bifurcation. 

 

If, as a policy the Government decides to go in for smaller states by division of the existing states instead of allowing agitations demanding creation smaller states to crop up, it is prudent to create right now a Second States Reorganization Committee. But the moot question to be decided is whether it will be in the best interests of the country to go in for bifurcation or trifurcation of existing states. Our think tank should do a serious brain-scratch and take an appropriate decision in this regard taking people of all regions of the existing states into confidence  to avoid stirs, agitations, etc. that necessarily entailed law and order problems, loss of public/private properties during agitations, distutbance and disruption of normal life of people and other hassles. 

 

 

 

R.SAMPATH
1/8/2013

(Updated on 8/1/2022)