DEHRA DUN: A two-day con-clave will be held at Uttarkashi on May 16-17 under the auspices of the Uttarakhand Mukti Morcha (UMM) to formulate & fresh action plan to intensify the four-decade-old demand for & separate hill state.
Unlike the past this conclave assumes greater significance in view of the fact that several leaders of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha the Gorkha National Liberation Front and from Vidharbha and Bundelkhand are scheduled to participate in it. The star attraction of this conclave is likely to be Suraj Mandal MP a key leader of the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha.
The UMM has also given a call to all like-minded people in the CPI the Uttarakhand Kranti Dal the Janata Dal the Uttarakhand Sangharsh Vahim and the Indian People’s Front to join the deliberations.
Interestingly the intensity of the Uttarakhand movement which had been suddenly tempered by the Uttaranchal stance of the Bharatiya Janata Party is sought to be re-built on the premise that the BJP which had swept the polls in the last elections in Uttarakhand has failed to live up to its promise. The leaders of the movement are now openly accusing the BJP of exploiting the sensitive issue to its advantage.
They are now terming the BJP ruled state government’s resolution for a separate hill state passed by the state assembly in December last as a “gimmick” to gain more political mileage in the region. The resolution had demanded the creation of a separate hill state for the eight districts of U.P.
Similarly the Morcha leaders are vehemently critical of some Congress leaders especially those belonging to this region and occupying important positions like N.D. Tiwari and Brahmn Dutt. These leaders are reportedly opposing the demand for a separate Uttarakhand state.
“Both the BJP-and the Congress are engaged in subverting the cause of the Uttarakhand state one way of the other” says Alok Upadhyaya coordinator of the Morcha. He said while the BJP whose interests are only political is keen on a geographical fragmentation the Morcha which an apolitical body seeks not only the preservation of the politico-cultural identity of the people of the area but also their proper socioeconomic development.
He says that the continued backwardness of the hilly region had sufficiently proved the callousness with which the Congress has dealt with the needs of the area during its long rule in the state.
Meanwhile in an official issued here the Morcha leaders demanded the immediate formation of a separate hill state cadre stoppage of construction of big dams demarcation of reserve forests rehabilitation of the quake victims a while paper on the financial aspects of the relief work and annulment of the Forest Act 1980.
Issuing the chanter of demands a Morcha spokesman pointed out that many of these demands were” very simple and pending: for a long time “But the government is not willing to yield an inch” he said. He pointed out that the demand for a separate hill cadre for government officials was made in 1977 and accepted principle at one time. But it had been hanging fire since then.
Article extracted from this publication >> May 29, 1992
