Growth of Regional Interests

Regional interests grew and took hold in many parts of the country. At the level of the states, after the 1967 elections the Congress had lost out in many; governments formed by the Samyuktha Vidhayak Dal (SVD)—composed of the Jana Sangh, socialists, the Swatantra Party, and defectors from the Congress—came and went in the northern states. The rise of the SVD is considered as the manifestation of the growing political consciousness of the lower castes who had benefited from the land reforms but had not got the political clout. Most of these castes belonged to the intermediary position below the brahmins and above the lowest, and formed the dominant group in their respective areas. Incidentally the politics increasingly became affected by the politics of defection.

In southern India, especially in the Madras State (later Tamil Nadu), a North-South divide was perceived: it was felt that the North was trying to dominate and exploit the South. Brahminism was, in fact, seen as a manifestation of this exploitation as it was seen to have come from the North. Language became a prominent bone of contention. The South, especially Madras, viewed the possible imposition of Hindi as official language with resentment. While the knowledge of English was more or less evenly spread over the regions of the country, imposition of Hindi would be very much to the advantage of the people in the Hindi belt in the fields of education and employment.

The three language formula calling for learning Hindi,

English and the regional language – each one with a different script – was unsatisfactory as Tamilians would still have to become proficient in all three while their ‘northern’

counterpart would have no extra difficulty with their mother tongue. Kerala, Mysore State (later Krnataka) and Andhra adopted the three language formula. The southern demand that northern states also include a southern language in a three- language policy for themselves was generally ignored. The northern states either refused to adopt a three-language formula, or if it was adopted, there was an option for taking Sanskrit instead of the southern language, so the formula itself had no meaning. It was in this background that the Dravida parties gained prominence.

The Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (DMK), formed of the middle castes of the region and firmly anti-brahmin in its outlook, gained power in Madras; it came to power in the state in the 1967 elections with a huge majority and formed the first non-Congress government there under C.N. Annadurai. Since then, the state has in most elections brought to power either the DMK or the All India Anna Dravida Munnetra Kazhagam (AIADMK), the group that separated from the DMK under M.G. Ramachandran.

In Kerala, the Congress failed; CPI and the CPM came together to form the government with E.M.S. Namboodiripad once again becoming the chief minister.

In West Bengal after the 1969 election, the Congress lost power, and a coalition government was formed by the CPM and the Bangla Congress. Ajoy Mukherjee of the Bangla Congress was the chief minister and Jyoti Basu of the CPM, the home minister. There was trouble in the alliance and the state government also had problems with the Centre. There was also the conflict with the Naxalites, chiefly the Communist Party Marxists-Leninists, in short, the CP(ML) formed in 1969 and led by Charu Mazumdar, consisting of those rebels who left the CPM saying it had betrayed the ‘revolution’. It was in the Naxalbari area that bordered Nepal and Pakistan (at the time East Pakistan) that the rural poor had been mobilised around 1967 by Kanu Sanyal of the CPM to demonstrate against landlords who had evicted tenants. The protests soon turned violent leading to the beheading of some landlords. From the name of the place, the term ‘Naxalites’ grew to represent those who would resort to violence against the State to protect the interests of the oppressed. Now the

CP(ML) also attacked rival communists as agents of the government and the police in urban areas; the police took repressive action. They looked to China and Maoism for inspiration. In the end they were successfully suppressed by the government, though they continued to influence certain areas of the country.

In Andhra Pradesh, there was a fresh agitation demanding the creation of Telengana with Hyderabad as its capital. The Naxalites also established themselves in the rural areas here. In Maharashtra, a new party Shiv Sena was founded in

1966 by Balasaheb Thackeray (more popularly called Bal Thackeray), a cartoonist, in Mumbai. This party was vociferous in its demand of ‘Bombay for Maharashtrians’, and targeted the south Indians residing there, who, according to it, were taking away jobs from the natives. There were even attacks on the homes of south Indians and commercial establishments run by south Indians. The Maharashtra for Maharashtrians approach seemed to find favour with many of the inhabitants and the Shiv Sena came second to the Congress in the municipal elections of Bombay.

The calls for greater autonomy were reflected in the border areas as well. Kashmir had gone through an election in 1967, which was, to all purposes unfair, with Congress candidates being elected without opposition as other candidates’ nomination papers were rejected. Sheikh Abdullah, under house arrest for some time, was released. His attitude to the position of Kashmir vis-à-vis India remained ambivalent, but according to some reports he was more ready than before with the idea of Kashmir’s accession to India. After the Indo- Pakistani war of 1971, the new order in South Asia seemed to indicate that India’s control over Kashmir was quite firm. Sheikh Abdullah was in a mood for a more conciliatory approach to the Centre, and Indira Gandhi was ready to open a dialogue with him. He agreed not to raise the issue of self- determination for Kashmir but to limit his demand to just greater autonomy within the Indian Union. He became the Chief Minister of Jammu and Kashmir and the leader of the National Conference. There was relative peace and, in 1975, Indira Gandhi declared the state of Jammu and Kashmir to be a constituent of India.

In 1966, Indira Gandhi accepted the Akalis’ demand that Punjab be reorganised on linguistic lines. In consequence, the southern part of Punjab which was predominantly Hindi- speaking became a separate state, Haryana. At the same time, the hilly areas in north-eastern Punjab were merged with Himachal Pradesh. However, the contentious issue on the status of Chandigarh, which the Akalis wanted to be the capital of Punjab alone, was declared a union territory to be shared by both the states as a capital. Though demonstrations over the status of Chandigarh went on in 1968 and 1969, and a veteran freedom fighter, Darshan Singh Pherumal, fasted unto death, the initially temporary arrangement continued indefinitely.

The north-eastern region of India has a strategic importance. The Mizos rose up against the Government of India in 1966, with the Mizo National Front (MNF) under the leadership of Laldenga demanding sovereign independence of Greater Mizoram. Indira Gandhi had to use the army to quell the rebellion; the air force carried out strikes in Aizawl, the only time the IAF was used in this way in civilian Indian territory. With the 1971 war victory, the Mizo separatist movement slowed down. Negotiating with the Mizo leaders, the union government offered to turn Mizo Hills into a union territory in July 1971. The Mizo leaders accepted the offer on condition that the status of union territory would soon be upgraded to statehood. In January 1972, the Union Territory of Mizoram came into being. (Later, under Rajiv Gandhi as prime minister, Mizoram was to become a full- fledged state in 1987.)

There was insurgency in Nagaland too. Nagaland had

been a part of Assam at the time of India’s independence, but in 1963 it had become a separate state of India. But there were extremists in the state who demanded a separate identity outside the State of India. The radicals in charge of the movement were ready to get help and training from China. Violent clashes took place between the Naga rebels and the Indian army. Indira Gandhi handled the situation with firmness, especially during the Emergency. In March 1975, president’s rule was imposed on the state. The leaders of largest rebel groups agreed under the Shillong Accord in November 1975

to lay down arms and accept the Indian Constitution. However, a small group did not agree and spurts of violence and conflict continued.

Statehood had also, in the meanwhile, been granted to Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura in 1972, while the North- East Frontier Agency was made into a union territory and renamed Arunachal Pradesh.