REGIONALISM.

DEFINITION OF REGIONALISM

The term ‘regionalism’ has two connotations. In the negative sense, it implies excessive attachment to one’s region is preference to the country or the state. In the positive sense it is a political attribute associated with people’s love for their region, culture, language, etc. with a view to maintain their independent identity. While positive regionalism is a welcome thing in so far maintaining as it encourages the people to develop a sense of brotherhood and commonness on the basis of common language, religion or historical background. The negative sense, regionalism is a great threat to the unity and integrity of the country. In the Indian context generally the term regionalism has been used in the negative sense. In India Regionalism is a feeling or an ideology among a section of people residing in a particular geographical space characterized by unique language, culture etc. that they are the sons of the soil and every opportunity that exists in their land must be accorded to them first but not to the outsiders. It is a sort of Parochialism. In most of the cases it is raised for expedient political gains but not necessarily.

The feeling of regionalism may arise either due to the continuous neglect of a particular area or region by the ruling authorities or it may spring up as a result of increasing political awareness of backward people that have been discriminated against. Quite often some political leaders encourage the feeling of regionalism to maintain their hold over a particular area or group of people.

REGIONALISM IN INDIA.

India has faced the problem of regionalism, even before Independence.Regionalism in India can be traced back to Dravida Movement started in Tamil Nadu. The movement initially focused on empowering Dalits, non-Brahmins, and poor people. Later it turned against imposition of Hindi as sole official language on non-Hindi speaking areas. Finally, the movement for some time focused on seceding from India to carve out their own Dravidastan or Dravida Nadu. The movement slowly declined and today they have become prominent regional parties after many splits and factionalism.

But the incidents like the recent attacks on Bihari labourers by the United Liberation Front of Asom, uproar created by the MNS in Maharashtra, the dispute over Hogenakal drinking project, the Jammu and Kashmir issue, in Punjab against non-Punjabis that gave rise to Khalistan Movement and earlier Akali Movement; in North-East against other Indians, in Andhra, Telangana issue and likes make sure that still the issue of regionalism persists in India. These issues have been highlighting the sharp divide among regional states of India, which point that the overall national interest has been reduced to a secondary status.

It can be traced that regionalism slowly turned from non violent means to violent means to achieve their goals. From Potti Sriramulu’s non violent means of fatsing to Maharashtra Nav Nirman Sena (MNS) and ULFA’s violent means, regionalism has come a long way.

Regionalism in present day India is readily used for political gains by petty politicians and secessionist organizations. Economic reasons are exploited for political dividends.

Forms of Regionalism in India.

Regionalism in India has assumed various forms like:

Regionalism, properly so called.

 It is the first and most legitimate kind of regionalism which is often in the form of the demand of a separate space or state of one's own, for the purpose of resting securely within the Union of India. This was spearheaded by the Telugu-speaking residents of the erstwhile Madras Presidency. The forms of protest it involved were attacks on state property, and the hunger-fast, and as a result of this, the creation of the state of Andhra Pradesh and, later redrawing of the map of India on linguistic lines took place. With the same token, some of such protests for the creation of a separate state gave birth to leading regional parties like the Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam in Madras, which was later emulated by the Akali Dal in Punjab, the Telugu Desam Party in Andhra Pradesh, and the Asom Gana Parishad in Assam.

This category also includes sub-regionalism, which pertains to the groups, which are in minority within the states based on language, who also occupy a definite territory within these states, and by virtue of language or ethnicity, they have enough to bring them together and to bind them against the majority community in that state.The successful protests include those which were raised by the hill people of Uttar Pradesh, which delivered to them a new state called Uttaranchal (now Uttarakhand), and the tribal and other residents of the Chhotanagpur Plateau, whose claim from a reluctant Bihar was the state of Jharkhand for which they had been fighting from well before Independence.

 Secessionism.

 It can be classified as the most violent and dangerous form of regionalism as it is based on the desire, or hope, or fantasy, to divide the Republic of India and form a separate nation of one’s own. This form of regionalism evolved with A. Z. Phizo's Naga National Council, and T. Muivah’s National Socialist Council of Nagaland. In the similar way, militants in Kashmir can also be said to follow this form of regionalism as they are persistently committing bloodbath in pursuit of their dream of a separate separate. The movemment of Khalistan, spearheaded by the Sikh extremists during 1980s also hoped to form their own nation-state. In fact, even the Dravidian movement for many years demanded a separate nation out of India, which fialed due to the jingoism unleashed by China's war with India.

Parochialism.

 Another form of regionalism has been termed as parochialism. This can be benevolent, as in evident in form or pretensions of the Bengali bhadralok, who claim that their literature, music, dress and cuisine are superior to others in India. However, sometimes it has also taken the form of bloodshade, as evident in the attacks on Bihari labourers by the Ulfa cadre, in which the belief rests that only Assamese speakers have the right to live in Assam. This kind of bloodshade was committed by the Shiv Sena goons in mid-sixties, who in Bombay began to attack South Indians entitling them as ‘outsiders’ to the city. Even Udupi restaurants were torched, and offices and factories threatened not to employ south Indians in their establishments. Recently, the Shiv Sena has kept the Bengalis and Biharis at its target. Following the same, the MNS has made the North Indians its target.

CAUSES FOR GROWTH OF REGIONALISM

In India a number of factors have galvanized the movements of regionalism:

1.     The efforts of the national government to impose a particular ideology, language or cultural pattern on all people and groups compelled the regionalism movements to crop up. With the same effect, the states of the South began to resist the imposition of Hindi as an official language as they feared this would lead to dominance of the North. Emulating the same the Assam anti-foreigner movement was launched by the Assamese to preserve their own culture.

2.     Almost all the states have spawned a military native movement directed against outsiders. The fundamental issue has the employment for the local people and many state governments either officially or unofficially have supported the protection of jobs for the „sons of the soil‟. Shiv Sena of Maharashtra is one example of this.

3.      Continuous neglect of an area or region by the ruling parties and concentration of administrative and political power has given rise to demand for decentralization of authority and bifurcate of unilingual states. On occasions sons of soil theory has been put forth to promote the interests of neglected groups or areas of the state.

4.     The desire of regional elites to capture power has also led to rise of regionalism. It is well known that political parties like DMK, AIADMK, Akali Dal, Telugu Desam Asom Gana

4.Parishad etc., have encouraged regionalism to capture power.

5.     The desire of the various units of the Indian federal system to maintain their sub cultural regions and greater degree of self-government has promoted regionalism and given rise to demand for greater autonomy.

6.     The interaction between the forces of modernisation and mass participation have also paved the way for growth of regionalism in India. As the country is still away from realising the goal of a nation state, the various groups have failed to identify their group interests with national interests, hence the feeling of regionalism has persisted. The growing awareness among the people of backward areas that they are being discriminated against has also promoted feeling of regionalism. The local political leaders have fully exploited this factor and tried to feed the people with the idea that the Central Government was deliberately trying to maintain regional imbalances by neglecting social and economic development of certain areas.

7.     Regionalism has also emerged because of the attempts made by the government to improve a particular or ideology on people who desire to follow a different path.

 Determinants of Regionalism in India.

While the cultural factors, real or imagined, focus upon the symbolic dimension, the socioeconomic and political disparities highlight the instrumental dimension. The major determinants of regionalism in India are examines as under:

 Political Factor: -

 In a sense, all regionalism is a form of politics, i.e. politics of natives. In political sphere, regionalism is against centralization of power and administration. It stands for more power and administration.

 Historical Factor: -

 Common historical experience often buttresses regionalism by way of creating differences in social heritage, attitude, myths and regionalism.

 Socio-Economic Factor: -

Socio-economic imbalance between regions is the crux of regionalism in India. Regional imbalance is also inherent in the pattern of capital investment and distribution. The uneven nature of capital investment is bequeathed to India by the colonial government.

Geographical Factor: -

The geographical distinctiveness gives a symbolic identity which needs economic and political props for its resurgence from time to time. For example, the old geographical boundaries of the ex-princely states still haunt and are implied in defining regional identity in India.

Socio-cultural Factor: -

 Socio-cultural differences between regions fan regional feeling to some extent. Socio-cultural symbols often provide the necessary inputs for identity –formation for a people living in a particular region. Regional caste, sub caste and kinship differences motivate regional feeling within a broad socio-linguistic area.

HOW TO COMBAT REGIONALISM.

 Regionalism has been an important aspect of Indian politics. Sometimes, it has posed threat to the unity of the country. Hence it is necessary to take steps to reduce such tendencies. Some such measures can be

1. To promote even development of the nation. The neglected areas must be given more importance so that they feel a part of the national mainstream.

2. A proper law should be passed to execute the political leaders supporting regionalism just to gain political attention like Uddhav Thackrey and Raj Thackrey or they should be treated under the laws of sedition.

3. The central government must not interfere in the affairs of the State unless it is unavoidable for national interest.

4. Problems of people must be solved in a peaceful and constitutional manner. Politicians must not be allowed to misuse the issue of regional demands.

5.  Except for issues of national importance, the states should be given freedom to run their own affairs.

6. Changes are necessary in the Central-State relations in favour of the states, and for introducing a system of national education that would help people to overcome regional feelings and develop an attachment towards the nation.

7. The different departments for different states can be constituted at central government level so that that specific department can look upon state critically and suggest the ways to government for the upliftment of the state.

8. There should be a nominal participation of all the states at central level government. The leaders of the deprived states should come forward to participate in the central government and raise their concern rather than sitting in the state and demanding the new state.

9. As much as possible, public policies depicting the idea of nationalism should be introduced and there should be uniformity in schemes and policies for all the states.

10. Election Commission should lay down some norms for regional parties against regionalism. Election Commission should define that any party who will be found in promoting unnecessary

 regionalism will be banned.

REGIONAL ISSUES IN INDIA

Linguistic Reorganization of States

It was the demand of Potti Sriramulu, a freedom fighter and a devoted follower of Mahatma Gandhi, that led to the creation of Andhra Pradesh state and linguistic recognition of the states in India. To achieve this end, he died in 1952 after not eating for 52 days in support of a Telugu-speaking state. Sriramulu’s death forced Jawahar Lal Nehru to accede to the various demands from other parts of the country with similar demands. Consequently, in 1954, a States Reorganisation Committee was formed with Fazal Ali as its head, which recommended the formation of 16 new states and 3 Union Territories based on the language.

Demand for Dravida Nadu

 Going back to the journey of Regionalism in India, it is well noticeable that it emerged with Dravidian Movement, which started in Tamil Nadu in 1925. This movement, also known as ‘Self-Respect Movement’ initially focused on empowering Dalits, non-Brahmins, and poor people. Later it stood against imposition of Hindi as sole official language on non-Hindi speaking areas8. But it was the demand of carving out their own Dravidastan or Dravida Nadu, which made it a secessionist movement.. As early as 1960s the DMK and the Nan Tamil organized a joint campaign throughout Madras state demanding its secession from India and making it an independent sovereign state of Tamiland. DMK proposed that the states of Madras, Andhra Pradesh, Kerala and Mysore should

secede from the Indian union and form an independent „Republic of Dravida Nadu‟.

1962: C.N Annadurai maintained that the people of South India were of different stock from that

of the north. He alleged that the south has been ignored and neglected by union government in

plans of India‟s industrial development.

1963: Constitution bill which enabled it to make laws providing penalties for any person

questioning the sovereignty and integrity of Indian union.

DMK dropped its demand for separate nation Dravida nation.

1974: Anti-Malayali demonstration in Madras city by Tamil Protection Organization demanding

to give employment to Tamilians alone

Telangana Movement.

 In the years after the formation of Andhra Pradesh state, people of Telangana expressed dissatisfaction over how the agreements and guarantees were implemented. Discontent with the 1956 Gentleman's agreement intensified in January 1969, when the guarantees that had been agreed on were supposed to lapse. Student agitation for the continuation of the agreement began at Osmania University in Hyderabad and spread to other parts of the region. Government employees and opposition members of the state legislative assembly threatened "direct action" in support of the students.

Shiv Sena against Kannadigas.

In 1966, Shiv Sena, in Maharashtra, launched its agitation against Kannadigas in the name of Marathi pride. The first targets of its agitation were South Indians who the Udupi hotels in Mumbai. This agitation was labeled to be a retaliation of the lathi-charge on Marathi speaking people in the border areas.

Bodoland Demand Within Assam.

The Bodo agitation is led by the Assam Bodo Students Union which is demanding a separate state and has resorted to wide scale violence and series of crippling bandhs to pursue their demand. One of the basic reason Assam agitations is because of the expansion of education, particularly higher education, but not industrialization and other job creating institutions is increasing the army of educated youths in the backward regions. These frustrated young men are allured by the movements against the inflow of people from other countries ands states. On the other hand these unemployed youths are also attracted by the caste, communal and other sectional agitations fighting for the protection of rights on sectarian lines.  

Khalistan Movement.

 It was during the era of 1980s that Khalistan movement with its aim to create a Sikh homeland, often called Khālistān, cropped up in the Punjab region of India and Pakistan. The vision was to include the Indian states of Punjab, Haryana, Himachal Pradesh, New Delhi, parts of the Kashmir, parts of Rajasthan, and parts of Gujarat. Thus this movement falls more in the category of a separatist movement, imbibing the characteristics of regionalism. Apart from this, there have been several other secessionist movements namely, Assam, Jammu and Kashmir, Tripura, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Manipur, Nagaland and Arunachal Pradesh.

Attacks on Bihar Laborers by the ULFA.  

ULFA continues to attempt ambushes and sporadic attacks on government security forces. In 2003, the ULFA was accused of killing laborers from Bihar in response to molestation and raping of many Assamese girls in a train in Bihar. This incident sparked off anti-Bihar sentiment in Assam, which withered away after some months though. On August 15, 2004, an explosion occurred in Assam in which 10-15 people died, including some school children. This explosion was reportedly carried out by ULFA. The ULFA has obliquely accepted responsibility for the blast. This appears to be the first instance of ULFA admitting to public killings with an incendiary device. In January 2007, the ULFA once again struck in Assam killing approximately 62 Hindi speaking migrant workers mostly from Bihar. On March 15, 2007, ULFA triggered a blast in Guwahati,injuring six persons as it celebrated its 'army day'.

The MNS Targeting North Indians.

 It was in 2008 that Maharashtra Navnirman Sena (MNS) workers began their violent agitation against North Indians. Bhojpuri films were not allowed to run on theatres in Maharashtra. The targets were vendors and shopkeepers from North India in various parts of Maharashtra.

Inter-State Disputes.

 Another form of regionalism in India has found expression in the form of interstate disputes. There are disputes boundary disputes for example between Karnataka and Maharashtra on Belgaum where Marathi speaking population is surrounded by Kannada speaking people, between Kerala and Karnataka on Kasargod, between Assam and Nagaland on Rengma reserved forests. There is a dispute over Chandigarh over Punjab and Haryana. The first important dispute regarding the use of water source was over the use of water resources of three rivers mainly Narmada, Krishna and Cauvery in which states of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, Gujarat and Maharashtra were involved. Disputes also arose between use of Cauvery waters among the states of Tamil Nadu, Kerala and Karnataka. Another dispute arose among the states of Maharashtra, Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh over the use and distribution of waters of the Krishna River.Disputes between Punjab, Rajasthan and Himachal Pradesh overt the use of waters of Ravi River. The Electricity sharing issue between Punjab and Delhi is another example of this.

Creation of new States in 2000.

In 2000, the Government of India, pursuant to legislation passed by Parliament during the summer, created three new states, Chhattisgarh, Uttaranchal, and Jharkhand, reconstituting Madhya Pradesh, Uttar Pradesh, Bihar, respectively. Both the ruling BJP and the opposition Congress party supported the formation of the states. The basis for creating the new states is socio-political and not linguistic. With the new states, the Indian Union now has 28 states.

CONCLUSION.                            

According to the Constitution of India, an Indian citizen is free to move around and settle down peacefully any part of the country. So they go to places where jobs are available, and get them on the basis of merit. This gives the political parties absolutely no reason to accuse them of stealing anything, or criticizing their language and culture, or for that matter, instigating violence against them. Their want for limelight and votes ends up being a nightmare for the common man. This is not the solution to the problem of excessive migration. It can only be solved by development and creation of jobs in other states, and tackling the issue of overpopulation. If this unnecessary propagation of hatred continues, it will solve nothing, and only divide the people more. Today it is the division of states. Tomorrow it will be the division of districts, and so on.