This is the story of a nation which started its “Tryst with Destiny” in the early hours of 15thAugust, 1947. This was a journey towards a future filled with hope and aspirations – A journey after 3 centuries of anarchy, chaos and plunder. The journey started with the largest known migration of human kind on earth. The blood and hatred which spilled during this period still carries its mark on the psyche of the nation. But the nation moved on, facing hurdles and crossing them, gaining strength from each of the failures, it grew from an infant democracy to the largest surviving democracy on earth. You got it right this is – INDIA.
Have you ever wondered how this nation looked like when the British government handed it over to us? Today when we talk of India we actually have in our mind a nation with 29 states and 6 union territories which TOGETHER give a shape to our motherland. But this wasn’t the India we inherited, what we got was a cluster of 524 sovereign states!!
Here is the map of India before independence; can you define India in this map?
Our forefathers clearly knew that it’s not possible to walk on the path of development and prosperity with 524 heads on our body and so they worked hard, to shape up the nation we know today. And thus, India was united as a single nation with new state boundaries. These boundaries were defined on the basis of language and local customs, with the main aim of having efficient local governance.
In this process power was taken from the hands of many budding princes who suddenly found themselves at the mercy of those who were, just a few years back were under their direct control. This was a great change in the history of modern India. It was thought that with the abolition of monarchy, the regional and factional hindrances to the growth of nation will be removed. The nation remained in this illusion, but not for a long time until 1967 when DMK (a regional party of Tamil Nadu) formed the local government. I think this was the period since when the regionalism started gaining ground in Indian political system. Soon many leaders from other states started seeing this opportunity to gain power, and today we are witness to the fact all the states in India has a regional party, which is strong enough to take on any other national party head-on.
The second momentous occasion for the regional politics of India was the general election of 1996 and the UDF government which came into place. This was an opportunity which no regional player can miss; they understood the bargain in their hand with just a few seats in their kitty. Those who could manage to get the regional votes started consolidating their ground and those who were left behind in this race, started the fight to carve out new regions for themselves, where they could claim the throne. Parties like – Telangana Rashtra Samithi (Andhra Pradesh), Gorkha National Liberation Front (West Bengal) are trying to carve out a niche for themselves by asking a statehood for themselves, on the other hand we have regional parties going to other extreme – Maharashtra Navnirmaan Sena who are fanning the regional fire for their ulterior motives.
The princes are back to claim their lost land, albeit in a new form of regional hood.
This whole issue of regionalism is actually a simple mathematics which is easy to understand. Out of the total 543 lok sabha seats up for grabs by the political parties, 400 are under influence of these regional satraps (See the table below). Isn’t this a big number to influence the rise and sustenance of these entities? Especially, when a single seat has the power to decide the continuance of the government!
| State | Regional Parties | Lok Sabha Seats |
| Andhra Pradesh | Telgu Desam Party | 42 |
| Assam | Assam Gana Parishad | 14 |
| Bihar | Rashtriya Janta Dal, Janta Dal (U) | 40 |
| Goa | Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party | 2 |
| Jammu & Kashmir | National Conference, PDP | 6 |
| Jharkhand | Jharkhand Mukti Morcha | 14 |
| Karnataka | Janta Dal (S) | 28 |
| Maharashtra | Nationalist Congress Party, Shiv Sena | 48 |
| Orissa | Biju Janta Dal | 21 |
| Punjab | Akali Dal | 13 |
| Tamil Nadu | Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam, All India Anna Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam | 39 |
| Uttar Pradesh | Bahujan Samaj Party, Samajwadi Party | 80 |
| Sikkim | Sikkim Democratic Front | 1 |
| West Bengal | Trinmool Congress | 42 |
| Haryana | Lok Dal | 10 |
| Total | 400 | |
At this point I would like to bring out a unique instance from our history. The Mughals, installed various regional chieftains to control the huge Indian sub-continent. They represented the Mughal Empire in areas far away from Delhi. The main reason Mughals made this arrangement was to have an effective control and management of the vast empire, and this went on good till the time the Mughals were strong at the centre (Delhi). With the fall of Mughal Empire, the regional chiefs claimed the land given to them as their own and thus gave birth to the 524 states which we inherited from British.
I think that history is trying to repeat itself, unless off course, we take some corrective action. The rise of regional parties and their regional agenda is weakening the central rule. With such diversity and disparity in the pattern India is made, we need a strong centre which can see beyond the regional horizons. At this point of time I have no idea how we can achieve a strong central government along with vibrant regional parties in states. But we as individuals need to understand that we have our existence on this world map as Indians. The world knows us and respects us because we are Indians. The moment we lose this identity, we will lose our place on the global arena. We need to recognise the face of theses Princes who are hungry for power, else be ready to be ruled under their whims and fancies.
The choice is there for us to make.
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