24 th Founding anniversary of Uttarakhand state on November 9 , but genuine movement activists are still reeling under extreme poverty !

Today is Uttarakhand’s 24 th foundation anniversary constitutionally formed on 9 th November, 2000 after the separate state bill being ratified by both both houses of parliament formally presented in Lok Sabha during the tenure of the then prime minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee and signed by the then president K. R. Narayana.

The demand for separate state was raised for the first time in Srinagar Garhwal emphatically by Comrade PC Joshi of Almora in 1952 , who had been the general secretary of undivided Communist Party of India from 1936 to 1947. A memorandum demanding Separate Uttarakhand was also send to Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru.

After this first strong demand at the Srinagar, Garhwal convention of the Communist Party of India in 1952 the foundation for separate Uttarakhand was actually formulated followed by Himalay Bachao Andolan and a massive rally at Boat Club by the then movement activist and a trade union leader with left leanings Rishi Ballab Sundriyal.

The then member of parliament from Tehri Garhwal Trepan Singh Negi there after spearheaded a strong and cohesive separate state movement from his residence in Delhi 8 Talkatora Road in 1978 organising a protest demonstration demanding separate Uttarakhand state courting arrest at Rajpath and near Boat Club with several Uttarakhand activists going to jail, imprisoned in Tihar for several days.

This writer was also one of them. Several corner and public meetings were held in different corners of Delhi and inhabitants of Uttarakhand living in Delhi were awakened including in Garhwal and Kumaon regions. It was in 1992 that the separate Uttarakhand movement finally emerged in a very powerful way from Pauri Garhwal Uttarakhand when the Gandhi of Uttarakhand and the inspiring force behind Uttarakhand Kranti Dal, a regional party born with the sole objective to achieve separate Uttarakhand, Indramani Badooni sat on indefinite hunger strike and hundreds of activists including Badooni were lathi charged and forcibly jailed.

Several progressive socio revolutionary organisations and important activists also joined this movement under different banners but owing full allegiance to the movement. Actually, the separate Uttarakhand movement then was the by-product of the reservation policy imposed by the then UP CM Mulayam Singh Yadav making youths of then Garhwal and Kumaon divisions completely insecure in terms of employment already unemployed massively.

The people of Uttarakhand got badly angered, annoyed and disenchanted by imposing reservation in government services. The anger and frustration against the reservation policy of the then Uttar Pradesh CM got converted into the massive separate Uttarakhand movement.

The UKD and leaders of the movement, its activists were put in jail, thrashed and tortured with the separate Uttarakhand movement gaining tremendous momentum with thousands of youths, women, college students and political activists of all the political parties forgetting their personal ideological allegiance, affiliations and joining the movement in large numbers.

The ex servicemen joined the movement at the decentralised levels and protest demonstrations, bandhs and sit ins started taking place in large numbers literally annoying the then Uttar Pradesh chief minister Mulayam Singh Yadav who was already angered with the Uttarakhandies who had become deadly against him burning his effigies and terming him as the enemy number one of Uttarakhand through hundreds of rallies, public meetings, agitations etc.

Meanwhile, when the Separate Uttarakhand movement gained momentum at the pan India level, especially in all the states where Uttarakhandies resided in majority, the main inspiring force behind the movement INDRAMANI BADOONI, known as the Gandhi of Uttarakhand gave a call for a massive conglomeration of all political parties and people of Uttarakhand from Delhi and Uttarakhand including other states to join the Delhi Red Fort rally.

Hundreds of buses carrying Uttarakhand’s women, men, youths, children, senior citizens started coming to Red Fort from various parts of Garhwal and Kumaon division including Delhi, Mumbai, Chadigarh, parts of NCR, Haryana, Punjab and Uttar Pradesh. The then CM Mulayam Singh was badly perturbed. He ordered his senior officers, the then district magistrate of Mujaffar Nagar and DIG, UP , etc to ensure that the protesters reaching Delhi are dealt with severely come what may.

The result was horrifying. Several women, young girls coming in buses in Delhi red Fort rally on 2 nd, October 1994 were pre strategically gheraod, taken out of buses and allegedly raped in the fields with several young boys, women, children killed too by hooligans, local police and criminals fully backed by then administration on the orders of the then DM and IGP, UP. It was indeed a black day in the history of the nation.

Lakhs of people attended the Red Fort rally but was disrupted by some political parties to destroy the massive movement and demoralise the protesters. Several cases were filed in Supreme Court and Allahabad High Court but of no avail. All the hardened culprits and the senior most officers responsible for this most dreaded crime were not only let off but given promotions who later on served the senior union ministers etc .

About 43 movement activists were mercilessly killed by the bullets of the then police demanding separate statehood in Dehradun, Mussouri, Khatima etc. The Congress party later on joined the movement seriously during the last six months before the state was formed on 9 th November, 2000 , though it tried hard to work on the hill council formula for several months which ultimately backfired. However, in view of the major impact of the UKD movement compelling political parties to agree to this demand finally, the then prime minister H. D. DEVEGOWDA HAD announced from the ramparts of Red fort to formally grant statehood to Uttarakhand people carving it out of Uttar Pradesh, but his government fell after the BJP withdrew support in 1997.

As a result the then prime minister Atal Bihar Vajpayee agreed to the demand to grant separate statehood to the Garhwal and Kumaon regions with the support of Congress and other political parties finally the state coming into formal existence on 9 th November, 2002.

Unfortunately, nine chief Ministers were changed during the tenures of 23 years with state’s fiscal deficit crossing Rs. 75000 crores and corruption dominating the state as a major factor. The unemployment issue remain unresolved with exodus of the hill population crossing all limits with about 30 lakh people having left their villages during the last twenty three years in the absence of adequate health facilities like hospitals, health centres, dispensaries with full fledged staff of paramedics, doctors, surgeons etc, quality education schools, and job avenues.

Today, Uttarakhand has three thousand ghost villages as revealed in several reports. While Congress and BJP has ruled Uttarakhand during the last 23 years turn by turn, except the saffron party repeating in 2022 , the financial health of the state is not good with fiscal deficit multiplying manifold to more than Rs 75000 to 80000 crores since 2004 when it was merely Rs 4000 crores .

However what is worrisome is the hard fact that the state is still not able to generate its income from internal resources to bridge this widening gap. Not only this but several scams and cases of massive financial irregularities have take place in the state with the recent being the massive horticulture scam in which the CBI has been directed to probe it by Uttarakhand High Court.

Though tremendous tall claims have been made during different tenures of chief Ministers of Congress and BJP but despite repeated populist announcements little have been done to implement various projects big or small at the ground level with successive governments’ interest much on generating revenue through opening of liquor shops in the land of abode of God’s than generating income sources from other means indigenously which only experts can describe how to go about to contain this lacunae.

The appointment of the Lok Pal has now become a distant dream as no political party of Uttarakhand obviously national parties Congress and BJP are hand in globe to ensure that this issue does not really fructify as if it really gets implemented the jaws of Lokpal with spread its justifiable tentacles on them allegedly badly immersed in neck deep corruption.

The much awaited Concrete Land Act to ensure that the outsiders are not allowed to grab large tracts of land destroying and disturbing the demographic character of Uttarakhand is still in abeyance but the government shows much interest in implementing the Uniform Civil Code which doesn’t actually brings financial and socio cultural prosperity to the state’s population which is actually longing desperately to see employment opportunities for its youths, good and fully equipped government hospitals at the decentralised level for its suffering poor population and adequate job avenues.

The most sought after priority issue of GAIRSAIN as the permanent capital is still in limbo moving like a pendulam with no credible hope despite several thousands crores of rupees spent on the news assembly, its highly modernised secretariat and on surrounding with politicians of various parties having already purchased large tracts of lands eying in the future rates to be multiplied and excessive profit orientation.

The miners, builders, land and liquor mafia, are having their fullest say with people leaving villages in large numbers and wild animals like monkeys, pigs, and maneaters creating havoc for those left behind with human kills taking place on every third day in Garhwal and Kumaon regions by maneaters. Not only this but massive road accidents and casualties through natural disasters and worsening law and order situation has also taken tolls beyond belief.

The insecurity of women in the state with late Anita Bhandari case not reaching to justifiable conclusion states the unambiguous state of the deteriorating law and order situation of the state including massive cheating and appointment scam not even soaring the UKSSSC and Assembly Secretariat pointing the finger of suspicion on high ups in the ruling party government.

Above all the Uttarakhand movement activists, women and men, who had faced lathi blows, gone to jail and spoiled their lives are in real mess with no government, either Congress or BJP hearing to their voes by including them in the registered Andolankari list to ensure their monthly pensions for survival and recognise them as, respectable movement activists.

Several such movement activists have already died under extreme poverty and some are on the verge of meeting the unfortunate sad end but those connected with the high ups in these political parties and ruling political dispensation have been recognised as movement activists and are drawing regular pensions. The genuine movement activists in hundreds and thousands are still waiting for justice or have given up hope asking ” DID WE MADE STATE TO FACE SUCH DISASTERS”.

It may be recalled that During 1973 to 1975 when political stalwart Hemwati Nandan Bahuguna was the chief minister of Uttar Pradesh, he also felt the dire need to set up a separate Hill Development Board / Council for overall the development of Uttarakhand putting a cabinet minister incharge of it. Political analysts say that this was a credible step forward during seventies to creste awareness among future governments of Uttar Pradesh and centre to think about the development of the hills and its people who were being ignored by the then UP as well as central governments.