The decision of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) to divide Andhra Pradesh and create Telangana has sparked protests for statehood across the country. Dormant demands for separate provinces have re-emerged, and reluctant State governments are battling new fires.
In West Bengal, the >Gorkha Janmukti Morcha (GJM), fighting for a Gorkhaland state, shut down Darjeeling for the third consecutive day. Additional security personnel had to be deployed. The GJM has said there will be no bandh in the hills for the next two days to enable students and tourists to leave, but there will be an indefinite closure from Saturday. GJM chief Bimal Gurung had resigned as chief executive of the Gorkha Territorial Administration on Tuesday.
Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee ruled out the State’s division and said: “
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In Assam, violence erupted in support of a
Even as the east flared up, the debate on the size of, and rationale for, a State as big as Uttar Pradesh took centre stage in Delhi and Lucknow. The previous Mayawati government had proposed >splitting Uttar Pradesh into Purvanchal , Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh, and Paschi Pradesh, and this was ratified by the Assembly. She reiterated that the BSP was in favour of smaller States. Union Minister Ajit Singh of the Rashtriya Lok Dal revived his party’s traditional demand for Harit Pradesh, and asked the people of western Uttar Pradesh to prepare for a movement. BJP leader Uma Bharti pressed for Bundelkhand, while Congress MP Jagdambika Pal said eastern Uttar Pradesh deserved to be a separate State.
But the ruling
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Confronting the surge in demands, Congress leader Digvijay Singh said that each region has to be dealt with separately. “The decision on one State cannot be the reason for giving other regions Statehood.”