Historically, Vidarbha has been one of the fascinating regions in India. The Maharashtra state came into being in 1960 when the movement for United Maharashtra succeeded in getting Mumbai as a part of Maharashtra. But the demand for the Vidarbha as the viable state has been there for a long time. Even the then PM, Nehru, talked about Vidarbha as a viable state.

First of all, the formation of a new state should not be looked as the separatist movement as the Constitution of India makes it a simple and routine matter to change the boundaries of the states, form new states, merge the states, and the name and rename them. Indian federation is the indestructible union of destructible states. That implies that the states can be organised and reorganised. They do not have permanence like the states in the USA. It is the administrative viability that is important and not any linguistic factor.

Babasaheb Ambedkar did not recommend “One Language, One state” policy, his recommendation was “One state, One language”. This principle is important that it is not necessary to form the linguistic states. The language is not the basis of the formation of the state, but it is important for administrative efficiency.

Before Mayavati lost the election to Samajwadi Party, she recommended the formation of four states in UP. UP is a very big state and every time the people living farther away from Lucknow will have an administrative machinery of the state away from them causing a big problem to the people in the remote part.

The best examples are the formation of Chattisgarh and Jharkhand, but of the very shining example is the formation of the state of Telangana. The United Andhra Pradesh was the first state formed. There was a movement to organise and reorganise the states, but the Telangana movement was the remarkable movement of the people who carved the new state.

The problems that Telangana and Andhra Pradesh faced is about the capital, Hyderabad. Such problem will never arise if Vidarbha is ever formed as Nagpur has all the infrastructure for it to be a capital. It was the capital of the erstwhile CP and Berar.

Looking at the viability of Vidarbha from people’s point of view, it is not only necessary to create Vidarbha, but it is also important for the development of the region.

Author – Mangesh Dahiwale

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