Regional Aspirations Class 12 Political Science

Regional aspirations refer to the desires and demands of people within a specific geographic region for recognition, autonomy, or political representation. In the context of the textbook, regional aspirations are often discussed in relation to India's diverse linguistic, cultural, and ethnic groups seeking greater autonomy or recognition within the Indian political framework. These aspirations have shaped regional politics and influenced policies related to language, culture, and governance in India.

Region and the Nation

What is the Indian Approach?

• The Indian approach to nation-building emphasizes balancing unity and diversity, affirming the importance of regional identities.
• It upholds the principle that the Indian nation respects the rights of different regions and linguistic groups to maintain their own cultures.
• India adopts a democratic approach, allowing for the political expression of regional aspirations without viewing them as anti-national.
• Democratic politics ensures that regional issues are duly addressed and accommodated in the policymaking process.
• Post-independence, there were mass movements in regions like Jammu and Kashmir and parts of the North-East for separation, countered by movements for linguistic states in areas like Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, Maharashtra, and Gujarat.
• Southern India saw protests against Hindi becoming the sole official language.
• Over time, India addressed the challenge of diversity by redrawing internal boundaries, effectively managing regional aspirations.

Jammu and Kashmir

• The ‘Kashmir issue’ is always seen as a major issue between India and Pakistan.
• Jammu and Kashmir comprises three social and political regions. Jammu-a mix of foothills and plains, Kashmir- heart of Kashmir region; Ladakh-mountainous region with very little population which is equally divided between Buddhists and Muslims.

Roots of the Problem

• Soon after independence, India had to face the Jammu and Kashmir dispute. 
• The state of Jammu and Kashmir is situated on the northernmost part of India. 
• Before independence, Jammu and Kashmir used to be a princely state, whose king was Hari Singh. 
• Raja Hari Singh wanted to remain independent whereas Pakistan used to say that Jammu and Kashmir has more Muslim population, therefore Jammu and Kashmir should be included in Pakistan. 
• In view of this demand, Pakistan attacked Jammu and Kashmir in 1947 with the aim of capturing Jammu and Kashmir immediately after independence. 
• Raja Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir sought help from India and India helped him. 
• In the meantime, Hari Singh of Jammu and Kashmir signed the instrument of India’s accession and officially Jammu and Kashmir became a part of India.
• In the meantime, it was also said that when the situation becomes normal, a plebiscite will be held to know, which country people of Jammu and Kashmir want to join, but this referendum has not been conducted till date and Jammu and Kashmir was given some special rights under article 370.
• During the war in 1947, Pakistan occupied some part of Jammu and Kashmir, which Pakistan calls Azad Kashmir and by India it is called POK (Pakistan occupied Kashmir)

External and Internal Disputes

• Externally, Pakistan has always claimed that Kashmir valley should be part of Pakistan.
• Pakistan sponsored a tribal invasion of the State of 1947 and consequence of it, a part of the state came under Pakistani control.
• India claims this area under illegal occupation whereas Pakistan describes this area as ‘Azad Kashmir.’
• Internally, there is a dispute about the status of Kashmir within the Indian Union.
• Article 370 gives greater autonomy to J&K compared to other state of India. State has its own Constitution.
• The special attention provokes two opposite reactions.
• A section of people outside J&K feels that Article 370 should therefore be revoked and J&K should be like any other state in India.
• Another section, mostly Kashmiries, believe that autonomy conferred by Article 370 is not enough.

Politics Since 1948

• In the early phase of Jammu and Kashmir, Sheikh Abdullah’s national conference party had a deep influence on the politics of Jammu and Kashmir. 
• After becoming the prime minister, Sheikh Abdullah started the policies of land reforms on a large scale in Jammu and Kashmir, which benefited the common people. 
• Seeing the growing fame of Sheikh Abdullah in Jammu and Kashmir, the central government removed him from in 1953 and kept him in captivity for many years. 
• The leaders who came after Sheikh Abdullah were not so effective and many questions were raised on the electoral system of Jammu and Kashmir. 
• Between 1953-74, the congress had a great influence in the political system of Jammu and Kashmir, the national conference ran the government with the support of the congress and after some time the national conference merged with the congress. 
• In 1965, some changes were made in the provision of the constitution of Jammu and Kashmir and the name of the prime minister was changed to chief minister, thus Ghulam Mohammad Sadiq became the first chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. 
• In 1974 an agreement was signed between Indira Gandhi and Sheikh Abdullah and Sheikh Abdullah was made the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. 
• Sheikh Abdullah won the 1977 assembly elections with a huge majority and became the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. 
• After the death of sheikh Abdullah in 1982, his son Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir. 
• But after some time, he was sacked by the governor, due to which a feeling of resentment towards the central government was created in the minds of the people of Kashmir. 
• This political turmoil continued till 1986, and after that the congress and the national conference formed an alliance.

Insurgency and After

• In the 1987 assembly elections, the national conference and the congress alliance won a landslide victory and Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister. 
• But it was believed that there was some misconduct in these elections. 
• By 1989, the demand for separatism in Jammu and Kashmir started increasing and gradually Jammu and Kashmir came under the grip of militant movement. 
• During the 1990s, Jammu and Kashmir witnessed many incidents of violence due to separatists and insurgents, the insurgents were being given economic and military support by Pakistan. 
• After this, assembly elections were held in 1996 in which Farooq Abdullah’s government was formed. 
• Fair elections were again held in Jammu and Kashmir in 2002, in which the national conference was replaced by the People’s Democratic Party and the congress government came to power. 

2002 and Beyond

• After two assembly elections, Mufti Mohammad was the head of the government for the first 3 years and after that Ghulam Nabi Azad of congress was made the chief minister but due to president’s rule he could not complete his term. 
• The next assembly elections were held in 2008 and the National Conference and the Indian national congress formed the government.
• Re-elections were held in the state in 2014 which recorded the highest turnout in the last 25 years and a coalition government of PDP and BJP was formed with Mufti Mohammad Sayeed as the chief minister.
• After the death of Mufti Mohammad Sayeed in April 2016, her daughter Mehbooba Mufti became the first woman chief minister of the state. 

Punjab

• The decade of 1980s witnessed major developments in the State of Punjab.
• Social composition of the state was changed first with partition and later-after the carving out of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh.
• The Akali Dal, which was formed in 1920 as the political wing of the Sikhs, had led the movement for the formation of a ‘Punjabi Suba.’
• Punjab had to wait till 1966 to be reorganised on linguistic lines for the creation of a Punjabi speaking state.

Political Context

• After the reorganisation, the Akalis came to power in 1967 and then in 1977.
• The Akali dal government formed in 1977 was dismissed by the center before completing its term. 
• Somewhere the Akali dal was aware that their position was weak politically. 
• They did not enjoy much support among the Hindus of Punjab
• They had the support of Sikh community, but like other communities, it was divided into castes and for this reason his support was weakening. 
• Seeing their weak position, a section of the Sikhs raised the demand of autonomy for Punjab.
• In 1973 a conference was organized at Anandpur Sahib and a resolution was passed which is known as Anandpur Sahib Resolution.
• It mainly defined the relationship between the center and the state, emphasizing the aspirations of the Sikhs and proclaiming the dominance and supremacy of the Sikhs. 
• The Anandpur sahib resolution had no significant impact on the general Sikh community. 
• When the Akali dal government was dismissed in 1980, the Akali dal launched an agitation on the issue of water sharing between Punjab and neighbouring states. 
• Some religious leaders also raised the demand for an autonomous Sikh identity and some extremists supported the demand to separate from India and create a ‘Khalisthan’. 

Cycle of Violence

• The militants made their headquarters inside the Sikh holy shrine, the Golden Temple in Amritsar and turned it into an armed fortress.
• In June 1984, the Government of India carried out ‘Operation Blue Star’ code name for army action in the Golden temple in which the government could successfully flush out the militants.
• In this operation, temple was damaged, which hurt the Sikh sentiments and their faith was betrayed.
• Prime Minister Indira Gandhi was assassinated on 31st October, 1984 outside her residence by her Sikh bodyguards as a revenge of ‘Operation Blue Star.’
• In many parts of Northern India violence broke give space out against Sikh community and continued for almost a week which results in the killings of more than two thousand Sikhs.

Road to Peace

• On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was shot by her own bodyguards and Indira Gandhi died. He did this to avenge Operation Blue Star. 
• After this incident, violence against the Sikh community erupted in Delhi and many parts of North India. 
• This violence lasted for almost 2 weeks and in Delhi alone more than 2000 Sikhs were killed in this violence. 
• Its impact was also seen on a large scale in areas like Kanpur and Bokaro. 
• Rajiv Gandhi, who became the prime minister in the 1984 elections, started talks with the moderate Akali leaders. 
• In July 1985, Rajiv Gandhi signed an agreement with the Akali dal president Harchand Singh Longowal, also known as Rajiv Gandhi longowal pact or Punjab pact. 
• In this agreement it was agreed that Chandigarh would be given to Punjab and a commission would be appointed to resolve the border dispute between Haryana and Punjab. 
• At the same time, it was also decided in this agreement that a tribunal would be set up to decide the sharing of water of Raavi and Vyaas rivers between Punjab, Haryana and Rajasthan. 

The North-East

• The North-East region of the country now consists of seven states, also referred to as the ‘seven sisters.’
  
  The Seven Sisters
• The region witnessed a lot of change in 1947. The entire region of North-East has undergone considerable political reorganistation.
• The vast international border and weak communication between the North-East and the rest of India have added to the delicate nature of politics there.
• Three issues dominate the politics of North¬East: demands for autonomy, movements for secession and opposition to ‘outsiders,’

Demands for Autonomy

• At the time of independence, except Manipur and Tripura, the rest of the region was called Assam. 
• Initially, the non-Assamese people opposed the Assamese language being imposed on them by the government of Assam and the demand for political autonomy in the region began to rise. 
• The leaders of the large tribal community spoke of separation from Assam and together formed the Eastern India Tribal Union. 
• In 1960, this organization evolved into the All Party Hills Conference. 
• The main demand of these leaders was to create a tribal state separate from Assam. 
• In view of their demands, the central government created Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh by dividing Assam at different times. 
• By 1972 this process was completed but still the demand for autonomy did not end. 
• Other communities such as the Bodo, Karbis and Dimsas of Assam continued to demand a separate state for themselves and made efforts to mobilize the people.
• But it was not possible to keep dividing the state into separate and small parts. 
• For this reason, the central government tried to satisfy their demands by using some other provisions.

Secessionist Movements

• For autonomy there were secessionist movements in North-East region like Mizoram and Nagaland etc.
• After independence, the Mizo hills area was made an autonomous district within Assam.
• Movement for secession gained popular support after the Assam Government ‘failed to respond adequately to great famine of 1959 in Mizo hills.’
• Mizo’s anger led to formation of Mizo National Front (MNF) under the leadership of Laldenga.
• MNF fought guerilla war, got support from Pakistani Government and secured shelter in East Pakistan.
• In 1986 a peace agreement was signed between Rajiv Gandhi and Laldenga.
• This accord granted Mizoram as full fledged statehood with special powers, and MNF agreed to give up secessionist struggle.
• Thus, the accord turn Mizoram as one of the most peaceful places in the region.
• The story of Nagaland is similar to Mizoram except that started much earlier and had not yet such a happy ending.
• After a section of violent insurgency a section of the Nagas signed an agreement with the Government of India but it was not acceptable to other rebels.

Movements Against Outsiders

• The large scale migration into the North-East gave rise to a special kind of problem that pitted the ‘local’ communities against people who were seen as ‘outsiders’ or migrants.
• The issue has taken political and sometimes violent form in many states of North- East.
• The Assam movement from 1979 to 1985 is the best example of such movements against ‘outsiders’.
• In 1979, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU), a students’ group not affiliated to any party, led an anti-foreigner movement. Movement demanded, outsiders who had entered the state after 1951 should be sent back.
• With the successful completion of the movement, the AASU and the Asom Gana Sangram Parishad organised themselves as a regional political party called Asom Gana Parishad (AGP), which came to power in 1985 with the promise of resolving the foreign national problem as well as to build a ‘Golden Assam.’

Sikkim’s Merger

• At the time of independence, except Manipur and Tripura, the rest of the region was called Assam.
• Initially, the non-Assamese people opposed the Assamese language being imposed on them by the government of Assam and the demand for political autonomy in the region began to rise. 
• The leaders of the large tribal community spoke of separation from Assam and together formed the Eastern India Tribal Union. 
• In 1960, this organization evolved into the All Party Hills Conference. 
• The main demand of these leaders was to create a tribal state separate from Assam. 
• In view of their demands, the central government created Meghalaya, Mizoram and Arunachal Pradesh by dividing Assam at different times.
• By 1972 this process was completed but still the demand for autonomy did not end. 
• Other communities such as the Bodo, Karbis and Dimsas of Assam continued to demand a separate state for themselves and made efforts to mobilize the people. 
• But it was not possible to keep dividing the state into separate and small parts. 
• For this reason, the central government tried to satisfy their demands by using some other provisions.

Accommodation and National Integration

• Regional aspirations are very much a part of democratic politics. Expression of regional issues is not an aberration or an abnormal phenomenon.
• The best way to respond to regional aspirations is through democratic negotiations rather than through suppression.
• Regional imbalance in economic development contributes to the feeling of regional discrimination.

Goa’s Liberation

• After independence 1947, British withdrew but Portuguese who were ruling since 16th century in Goa, Daman and Diu refused to withdraw themselves.
• Goa was liberated in 1961 from Portuguese by an army operation. Goa, Daman and Diu was declared an Union Territories.