It is a classroom in January 2012 and the student says there are 29 States in India. The teacher corrects him that the number has increased to 100. If the prevailing situation persists, this could happen.
The Central government has opened a Pandora’s box by first agreeing to the creation of a Telangana State and then trying to put it on hold. Mayawati is demanding Purvanchal and Bundelkhand. Gorkha people want Gorkhaland and the Vidhbara movement has gained momentum. The main reason for this clamour is uneven development. Some parts of India are in an accelerated mode of development while the majority of others are way behind. Hyderabad has become a role model for development. But, in the rest of Andhra Pradesh, farmers are committing suicide because they cannot pay their debts.
In Maharhastra, Mumbai is the financial capital of India besides being capital city of Maharhastra. But this financial revolution has not yet travelled to remote Vidhbara. Why this imbalance? Are small States the real solution? Why not then break India into smaller countries for the sake of better administrative control? But the examples of Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and Uttarakhand. show us that smaller States cannot guarantee development.
Macro planning and a proper implementation of infrastructure and welfare projects can guarantee the development. Fighting for Statehood has to stop and working for development and progress must be the aim. We need to realise that politicians are creating this drama for political gain. Let us develop the whole of India and rise above regionalism. After all, we are all Indians first.
