1.4. Forms of Regionalism

♤ Demand for State Autonomy: The first and the most challenging form of regional politics was in the demand of people in certain states or regions to secede from the Indian Union and become independent sovereign states. Such demands occurred soon after independence but they are mostly non-existent now. The important examples in this context are that of the Plebiscite Front (Kashmir), Mizo National Front (Lushei Hills of Assam), Nagaland Socialist Conference (Naga Hills District of Assam) etc.

♤ Supra-state Regionalism: This implies that more than one state is involved in the issue of regionalism. It is an expression of group identity of some states. They take a common stand on the issues of mutual interest vis-a-vis another group of states. The group identity is usually in relation to certain specific issues. It does not in any way imply the total and permanent merger of identity of the states into the identity of group. Rivalries, tensions and even conflicts do take place among a few states belonging to a group.

For example, the rivalry existing between south and north India on such issues as language or location of steel plants illustrates the point. The grouping of the North Eastern States for greater access to economic development is another instance. Let us refer to the language issue once again in order to illustrate how supra-state regionalism is found In India.

South India is separated from North along several differentials, geographically south is composed of peninsular uplands or Deccan, the mountain ranges of Eastern and Western Ghats and coastal plains.

In terms of political history too, south has never been incorporated into the empires of the North. This was done for the first time during the British regime.

After independence a major rift was caused over the issue of the official language for India. The Constitution envisaged the replacement of English by Hindi for official purposes of the Union as the language of communication between the centre and the states and between states. The state legislatures of Indian Union were given authority to adopt one or more languages including Hindi for use as the state language. The Constitution provides that the official language of the union should be Hindi with Devanagiri script, with international numerals for a period of 15 years from the commencement of the Constitution.

However, parliament could by law extend the use of English as the link language. The attempt to introduce the provision regarding the official language has generated more intense language rivalry than unity. The opposition to Hindi found its strongest political expression in the southern states. Most of the people in these states as well as those in the non-Hindi speaking areas of Eastern India objected to the imposition of Hindi. It was feared that their own languages would be ultimately replaced by Hindi, which they considered inferior. The adoption of Hindi as an official language and as a compulsory subject in schools was seen as imposition of a comparatively underdeveloped language upon those whose language contains a richness of thousands of years.

In the 1950’s several movements to oppose the imposition of Hindi sprang up. In 1956, the Academy of Tamil Culture convened in Chennai the Union Language Convention which stated in a resolution that it would be greatly unjust to make any other language (meaning Hindi) take the place of English when a population of 100 million are totally unacquainted with that language.

Significantly this Convention included representatives from different political organisations i.e., Rajagopalachari (Swatantra), Ramaswamy Naickar (D.K.), Rajan (Justice Party), Annadurai (DMK) and many others. At a National Conference held on 8th March 1958, Rajagopalachari declared that ‘Hindi is as much foreign to non-Hindi speaking people as, English to protagonists of Hindi’.

Growing opposition to Hindi in south India led Nehru in 1959 to assure the people of South that (a) there will be no imposition of Hindi on them and that (b) English will be an associate regional language which can be used for official purpose so long as people require it. The decision would be left not to the Hindi speaking people but to the non-Hindi speaking people.

In late 1964 many things revived the southern fears of “Hindi Imperialism”. With the death of Pt. Nehru the southern fear about imposition of Hindi had revived. The alarm grew at the expiry of 15 years when Hindi was to be used in place of English as the official language. The fears of Southern non-Hindi states could not be removed even by the Official Language Act, 1963 which made possible the continued use of English both at the centre and in the states.

On the Republic Day in 1965, in pursuance of Act 343 of Indian Constitution Hindi became the official language of India. The southern states reacted vehemently. The DMK party designated 26th January 1965 as a day of mourning. The student community started an agitation, against the imposition of Hindi. The DMK, which led this agitation, gained greater prestige. It became the ruling party in the state of Tamil Nadu when the elections took place after two years.

The DMK urged that all the fourteen languages be the official languages of the respective states with English as the link language between the states and the centre. The communists as well as Kamaraj favored a three-language formula (viz. English, Hindi and the mother tongue). In June 1965 it was announced that proposal given by Kamaraj (the president of the Congress) has been accepted. The language policy resolution of the Government of India gave official recognition to Hindi, English as well as the regional language.

The policy resolution also indicated that steps should be taken to develop Hindi. English continued to be recognized as an important link language. The events described above show that the language became an important issue around which supra-state regionalism developed.

♤ Inter-state Regionalism: It is related with state boundaries and involves overlapping of one or more state identities, which threaten their interests. River water disputes, in general, and other issues like the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute in particular can be cited as examples.

♤ Intra-state Regional Politics or Sub-regionalism: This refers to regionalism, which exists within a state of the Indian Union. It embodies the desire of a part of a state for the identity and self-development. It may also reflect a notion of deprivation or exploitation of a part of the state at the expense of another. This type of regionalism can be found in many parts of India. The important examples of this kind of sub-regionalism are a Vidarbha in Maharashtra, a Saurashtra in Gujarat, a Telangana in Andhra Pradesh, an East U.P. in Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh in Madhya Pradesh.

♤ Son of Soil theory: It ties people to their place of birth and confers some benefits, rights, roles and responsibilities on them, which may not apply to others. It is accentuated by factors such as competition for resources, jobs, economic disparities, etc. Examples of implementation of the concept to further the cause of regionalism include campaign for safeguard of interests of Maharashtrians by the Shiv Sena, clashes among Bodos and Bengali speaking Muslims in Assam, among others.