Mayawati, Gorkhas latch on to hot Telangana

BSP supremo Mayawati at a press conference in Lucknow on Sunday (left); Gorkha Janmukti Morcha chief Bimal Gurung during an election campaign ahead of Panchyat polls at Nagrakata in Jalpaiguri, West Bengal in this file photo (right) - PTI

DC Ch, V.M. Krishna Rao | 15th Jul 2013: Hyderabad: The issue of separate statehood for Telangana, currently being deliberated by the Congress Working Committee, could revive demands for creation of other smaller states. 

There were indications to this effect on Sunday with the BSP and Gorkha Janmukti Morcha leaders raising the issue afresh. 

Extending support for a Telangana state, former UP Chief Minister and BSP supremo Mayawati said in Delhi on Sunday: “If the Centre is going to constitute a states reorganisation commission, then it should also take cognisance of the proposal for the division of UP into smaller states, which is pending.” 

The then BSP government had adopted a resolution in the UP Assembly for the division of the state into four smaller states.

In a related development, the GJM has threatened to revive its stir for a separate state in the Darjeeling hills if the Centre granted the demand for Telangana and bifurcated AP. 

More states eye breakup GJM general secretary Roshan Giri said in Darjeeling on Sunday that the party will send a memorandum to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, AICC president Sonia Gandhi and Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde, demanding that the Centre concede the demand for Gorkhaland along with Telangana. 

“We think the Centre will take the final call on the matter tomorrow,” he told reporters after a prolonged five-hour meeting of the GJM central committee which was called to discuss the Telangana issue vis-a-vis reviving the Gorkhaland demand. 

Asked what would happen to the Gorkhaland territorial administration that had replaced the Darjeeling Gorkha Hill Council, in case the demand for Telangana is granted and GJM revives its statehood demand, Giri said, “Time will decide everything. We are waiting for what the Centre will do tomorrow.” 

Waiting in line for their turn are several other separatist statehood movements. 

A state of Bundelkhand carved out of parts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh is the demand of the Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha. 

Mayawati had supported the demand for creation of Purvanchal, Bundelkhand and Harit Pradesh out of UP. 

The BMM has long been urging that the demands for Telangana and Bundel-khand have much in common. The movement for the formation of Gorkhaland by dividing West Bengal went through a violent and bloody first phase before it was quelled. It revived around 2007. 

After the Trinamul came to power in West Bengal, Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee signed a memorandum of agreement that lead to the formation of a semi-autonomous Gorkha territorial administration. 

Though an uneasy calm prevails at present, the Gorkha Janmukti Morcha, which is spearheading the movement, has not given up its demand for statehood. 

Another violent movement in Bengal and Assam for Kamtapur for Koch Rajbongshis has been simmering for long. 

The Separate State Demands Committee for Kamtapur demands that Cooch Behar, Jalpaiguri, Darjeeling, North Dinajpur, South Dinajpur and Malda districts of Bengal and about 11 districts of Assam, including Dhubri, Bongaigaon and Kokrajhar coalesce into a new state. 

Problems could aggravate in Assam where several groups are agitating for separate ethnic states. 

The armed agitation for Bodoland that petered out after the Bodoland Territorial Council was formed through an agreement between the Centre, Assam and Bodo Liberation Tigers, could be revived. 

The Dimasa people of Assam, too, have been a demanding a state that includes Dima Hasao, Cachar, parts of Nagaon and Karbi Anglong in Assam and parts of Dimapur in Nagaland.