I have to be honest here. I never thought that Mayawati could do any good to her state or the country when she assumed command as Chief Minister of Uttar Pradesh in 2007. Even though she had achieved a remarkable feat by obtaining a simple majority in the legislative assembly (the first time such a feat was achieved after the Rajiv Gandhi era) I remained skeptical of her.
And until yesterday I carried the same feeling with me. How did my opinion of her change?
Mayawati officially proposed the plan to divide Uttar Pradesh into four smaller states so as to achieve efficiency in basic governance areas like law and order, bureaucracy, public services and similar other avenues in which Uttar Pradesh has been historically backward compared to even other backward states like Rajasthan and Madhya Pradesh. The four states would be named Paschim Pradesh, Poorvanchal, Bundelkhand and Awadh Prant
While some people would look at this announcement with skepticism as it came before a crucial state election in March 2012, I think that this might be the single greatest event in history of Uttar Pradesh since independence.
Why?
It’s quite simple. Uttar Pradesh is the one of the largest and most heavily populated states in India with a population of nearly 20 crore (200 million). With that kind of a figure it has a greater population than the whole of Brazil! Clearly, this makes Uttar Pradesh one hell of a challenge to be managed effectively. The current scenario is proof of that with Uttar Pradesh trailing in almost all development indicators from poverty, unemployment, industrial growth, new investment, crime, women’s education…. The list is endless. It is clear that the sheer size of this state makes it unmanageable coupled with the already comparative backwardness of the state to all other large (and even some smaller) states in the country.
Skeptics of this proposal would no doubt question the timing as this proposal comes in the wake of state elections in Uttar Pradesh due in March 2012. Mayawati and her Bahujan Samaj Party (BSP) evoke a mixed feeling in the state with allegations of corruptions and reverse caste discrimination in the favour of ‘lower’ castes. Her so called ‘grand gestures’ of building large and expensive monuments of herself and her now late former party boss Kanshi Ram at the expense of the state exchequer have attracted allegations against her of creating a caste based (mostly lower caste) Cult of Personality of herself. During her tenure, crime which has always been a serious problem in Uttar Pradesh compared to any other has skyrocketed in certain areas making her draw even more criticism especially from the ‘urban’ types and the liberal media. A strong nexus of crime, political patronage and violence and corruption have scared away most new investment projects from the state in addition to the already existing ones. Infrastructure shortages from horrible roads, a bipolar electric grid and low quality (and in some cases completely nonexistent) public services have done nothing but to abate the flight of investment and industry from the state.
While I agree with that, it does not make a political Einstein to understand what benefits this division will give to the people of Uttar Pradesh and India.
The division would enable the newly created smaller four states to achieve a level of competency in governance and public services which are just not possible in the current single behemoth state. The division would create a lot of new government jobs in the new states as certain institutional structures of government will have to be created for each state. The most important benefit to the national scene will be the disproportionate power that Uttar Pradesh has always had since independence. The power of strongly influencing politics at the Central Government with 80 Lok Sabha seats. This disproportionate power has always led to the saying that “The road to Delhi goes through Uttar Pradesh”. This power will cease to exist by the division as no one state would then possess the power to have undue influence on Central politics.
My answer to the division skeptics who say that Uttar Pradesh will not improve after the division is to look at neighbouring Uttarakhand. Uttarakhand (formerly Uttaranchal) was separated from Uttar Pradesh in 2000 as a separate state. Since then, the difference between the two states can only be explained by the word “stellar”. Uttarakhand rose from a muddy backwater region of Northern India to become one the best governed states in North India after Himachal Pradesh. Today, Uttarakhand ranks above Uttar Pradesh in all major development indicators from poverty and healthcare to women’s rights.
Those are my two cents on this issue. I will like to hear from all of you.
Mitul Choksi
16-November-2011
Ahmedabad, Republic of India
