Uttarakhand: Is it ready for another mass movement?

(This write up was published in response to an ongoing thread on a web bulletin board).

[Image Source: Prayaga Org.]

The photograph has in some way, we may not like to hear it, come to symbolize "Pahaad". All one needs is a photograph of a woman in drab outfit with a bundle of wood on her head or a tied up basket on her back stuffed with grass. Nothing else defines a "Pahaad" than a woman or a group of women carrying back breaking load on their heads and their backs and smiling for the photographer. It is my understanding that the progress that a society makes and development that it experiences, is somehow reflected through the life of the womenfolks of that society. We have seen this scene in thousands of myriad photographs taken by hundreds of known and unknown photographers, since the invention of camera and film. While the camera technology has significantly improved since the inception of the photographic technology, the subjects, on the other hand, have remained the same in all the relevant terms of human development.

We must not forget that unlike Jharkhand and Chhatisgarh, Uttarakhand was the result of the decades long struggle waged by the masses without any political party in toe and without any political ideology. What started out as a lone voice emerged as the biggest peaceful mass movement the world had ever seen. The people of the state have been innovative and often relied on community based cooperative actions to build roads, micro-hydroelectrical power plant, planted trees and have done various things together towards greater communal benefit. It is my opinion that a mass movement sterile of any political ideology will falter once the main objective has been achieved. What could be that political ideology would be, I am leaving that to the readers' discretion. I might point it out here as well, that a well intentioned political ideology would have taken care of Uttarakhand and it's needs without surrendering the interests of the people, their language and their culture.

Just read the Comptroller and Auditor General of India's report on Uttarakhand. Out of forty-eight hydro-electrical projects sanctioned in the last 16 years, only 10% of the projects have been completed and that rest are in various stages of construction. Uttarakhand has managed to barely produce some 418.05 MW of electrical generation, out of the projected electricity generation of 2423.10 MW. The CAG report says that 52% of Uttarakhand's own needs are met by its own power resources while it has to import or buy electricity from outside to meet the remaining part of electricity needs. So there goes our "Urja Pradesh" (or Energy State) slogan. It is not "Urja Pradesh" but rather an "Ujda Pradesh" (ruined state). So, sensing that I am going a bit off track, nevertheless I thought to share it with the readers here.

If the delimitation inspire another popular uprising, then it is only inevitable that such a thing would occur. The fighting spirit of the people of Uttarakhand will be tested once again, as they are being cunningly manipulated into the role of lesser important entity. The only saving grace for the Indian nation is, that chances of Uttarakhandis joining hands with anti-India forces is remote, yet they can send enough shivers down the spine of the Indian policymakers sitting in New Delhi. Proximity to China and Maoist Nepal (Darchula in western Nepal is a Maoist stronghold) can run enough scares in New Delhi. It is to be seen, whichever way the Uttarakhandis choose, but whatever be it, it would be borne out of frustration, feeling of being neglected, manipulated and tossed around by all and sundry of national politics.