From: krishna@iss.nus.sg (...Krishnamoorthy.)
Subject: ARTICLE: THE POLITICS OF REGIONALISM
Originator: krishna@suliman
Organization: National University of Singapore
Date: Sun, 30 Aug 1992 03:16:21 GMT


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It is an extremely boring article, press 'n' key right now. It will be useful
to those interested in the national politics.
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                            THE POLITICS OF REGIONALISM
                            ---------------------------
                               By C.P.Bhambhri
             Professor, Centre for Political Studies, JNU, NewDelhi


        (This article excerpted from the Hindu, Madras, 26 August 1992)

Since  Independence,  the  Indian  State  has been continuously struggling to 
   respond to the raising regional aspirations  and  assertions  in different
   parts of the country. While the  State has  successfully accommodated  the
   demands of some regional movements, it has not been able to find soultions
   to satisfy the aspirations  of  some regions. The problems of some regions 
   became complicated because the leaders  of the movements did not adopt the
   democratic method for the redressal of their  grievances.  The response of 
   the Indian State has been determined by the methods adopted by the leaders
   of the regional movements. Thus the politics of  regional  struggle cannot
   be unterstood by putting all such movements  under  an  umbrella  category
   of regional identities and aspirations.  They have to be differentiated on
   the basis of their goals and the methods adopted  to  achieve  such goals. 
   This essential fact about the various regional movements has been  ignored
   by those who believe that the centralised character of the Indian State is
   responsible for regional frustrations and agitations for  autonomy.  Since
   centralisation of power has generated regional alination, decentralisation
   and refederalisation of India will resolve regional tensions and conflicts
   . This  simple  cause  and  effect  relationship  ignores  the  genesis of 
   different  regional movements and hence the complexity of the issues which 
   are involved in the politics of regionalism. 

The Indian State had to tackle four complicated issues just after Independence.
   Firts, the  British  provincial  administrative  system was evolved on the 
   basis of the convenience of the colonial rulers and this  arrangement  was 
   not acceptable to the people of many Provinces. Second,  the 562  Princely 
   States  had  an   absolete   administrative   arrangement  which was to be 
   destroyed to achieve the democratic aspirations of  the  people  of  these
   States. The Princes and democracy could not co-exist in free India. Third, 
   the  Indian  State  inherited  some  so -called  "self-government"   quasi 
   Independent regions in the North-East and these  small  areas  with  their 
   distinct identities  were  to  be  integrated with their own country after
   Independence.  Fourth,  the  partition  of  India  left  many   unresolved 
   administrative issues to be tackled by the new State. These four difficult
   situations generated specific problems for the Indian State. 

Insurgency in the North-East and demands for linguistic reorganisation of the
   country emerged as powerful movements immediately after Independence. Thus
   the first assertion of regional aspirations was secessionist  in goals and
   non-democratic in methods. This was a challenge from  the Nagas, the Mizos
   and other tribes in the North-East.  The  response of the Indian State was 
   to confront the guns of the insurgents with the guns of the Army to defeat
   secessionism  and  ultimately  to   accommodate   the   people's  specific 
   aspirations by involving them in  the democratic process. The principle of
   unity in diversity was the basis  of  State  intervention  and  action  in 
   dealing with insurgency in the North-East. It has been a difficult journey
   for India and it has taken four  decades  to  marginalise  insurgency  and 
   establish  democracy  in  Nagaland,  Mizoram and Meghalaya.  Many  special 
   safeguards have been provided in the Constitution for the cultural autonomy
   of the North-eastern region. The moral from this experience is  clear that
   democratic accommadation is the agenda of the Indian  State  to  deal with
   regional aspirations. But this approach cannot be  smooth because regional 
   aspirations cannot be resolved on the basis of any one model. 

The movement for linguistic reorganisation had correct goals because language
   is a natural and secular basis of unity and administration. The Tamils and
   the Telugus, the Maharastrians and the Gujaratis,  the Kannadiga s and the
   Malayalees wanted language based States and the 1950s witnessed linguistic
   assertions for administrative reorganisation  of the  country.  Since  the 
   language movements were  generally  democratic,  the Indian State achieved 
   its goals of accomadation  of these movements. The moral from the language
   movements  of  1050s  is  that  democratically launched regional struggles 
   succeed  in  India  though  the  journey  is  based  on  the  principle of 
   bargaining and give and take.

It must be pointed out that some language groups have behaved in a chauvenistic
   manner  and they have launched hate movements on the basis of the "sons of
   the soil" theory.  The  Shiv  Sena  in  Maharastra was the most aggressive 
   expression of regional chauvinistic and it had to be confronted politically
   by the democratic parties. It has to  be pointed  out  that  the  regional 
   movements in India can be chauvinistic and champions of hatred and there is 
   always the need to distinguish between the positive  and  negative kind of 
   regional movements.  Any glorification of the regional movements per se is
   dangerous politics because it  is  only a democratically oriented regional 
   movement which is positive in social  attitudes. In every State and region
   of India, many linguistic and cultural  minorities live with important and
   major language groups and regional chauvinism is a threat to such minority.
   It was dramatised when the Cauvery water  dispute  between  Karnataka  and 
   Tamilnadu took an ugly turn and many  Tamil  natives  of  Karnataka  became 
   victims of the politics of chauvinism. It also knocks down the prescription
   of decentralisation of  power  because  only an effective Indian State can 
   intervene in inter-regional and intra-regional disputes. 

Regional politics in India is a mix of extremely complex factors and a movement
   may be based in  a  region but it may be the product of economic, cultural 
   and political reasons. The Telugu Desam party in Andhra Pradesh emerged as
   a regional party but in  reality  it  was  a  product of inter-elite caste 
   competition in that State. The Reddys and Khammas are the  dominant castes
   in Andhra Pradesh and  the  Congress  and  the  Telugu  Desam  represent a 
   competition between these  two  important  castes.  While  Mr N.T.Rama Rao 
   mobilised the people of Andhra Pradesh  on  the  slogan  of  "Telugu self-
   respect", in reality the TDP and the Congress  were  competing in politics
   on the basis of caste cleavages and the caste  conflicts.  Regionalism was
   a convenient handle for Mr. N.T.Rama Rao to confront the Congress. 

Similarly, the regional politics of  Punjab, Kashmir  Valley  and  Assam  has 
   become complex because the parties  and  movements  which  are  playing  a 
   leading role in these three States are not ordinary regional  paries  like
   the Telugu Desam or the DMK/AIADMK. In  Punjab,  the  Akali Dal is a party
   of the  Sikhs.  The  Akali  politics  is  integrally linked with gurdwaras
   which are  the  Sikh  religious  places of  worship. Thus the Akali Dal in
   Punjab is a regional and a communal party. It is a  regional because it is
   co-terminus with Punjab  and  it  is  communal  because  it represents the
   interest  of  the  propertied classes of Punjabi Sikhs. It is erroneous to
   describe the  Akali  Dal  politics as only regional because it is a mix of
   region, language, religion  and  class  factors.  Similarly, the all-Assam 
   Students Union and Assam Gana Parishad  emerged  on  the  political  scene
   of Assam  by  launching  an  agitation  against  the  foreigners  and  the 
   infiltrators from Bangladesh.

The  above  discussion  clearly  shows  that regionalism will always remain a 
   critical  issue  in  the   country's   politics  because  diversity  is  a 
   fundamental  feature  of Indian  Society.  Regional  alienation  has  also 
   emerged because  the capitalist national market of India has not been able
   to resolve the problems  of  regional  imbalances. The capitalist planning
   of the last four decades has created relatively  developed  regions  while
   many areas remain backward and  underdeveloped.  The  situation  has  been
   aggravated  because  some  of  the  backward regions are rich in resources 
   like oil, coal,  forest  and  iron.  The  economic neglect has accentuated
   regional politics. The democratic regional  movements  in  many parts have 
   emerged in response  to  the  failure  of  the  developmental  process  to  
   generate prosperity in Assam or Bihar or Rajasthan. 

The  politics  of  regionalism  can  degenerate  into cultural exclusivism or 
   terrorism  as  has  been  witnessed in  Punjab  and  Kashmir  Valley.  The
   political  developments  of  the  last  four decades have clearly revealed 
   that some mistakes of the Indian State have  contributed  to the growth of
   terrorism, but it has also  been  observed  that  regionalism  can  become 
   militant and violent. 

It  is  quite  clear that India has witnessed varieties of regional political 
   formations and the  issues  get  complicated  if  the regional politics is
   linked with religion or it is based on violence and terror. 

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