Regional Aspirations Notes Class 12 Political Science

Book 2 Chapter 7

Regional aspirations

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In 1947, India got independence from the British raj, in that period building a nation by
connecting the whole country together was no less than a challenge. But all the leaders

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of our country established India as a nation by their understanding.
But the challenges related to nation building were not completely over in that period
and their impact was visible in future also.
As we all know, India is a country full of diversities. People who speak many languages,
follow many religions and belong to many castes live here.
Because of these characteristics, the demands, desires and aspirations of every
community are different. Due to which India had to face many challenges and
problems to be established as a nation.
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Government’s view
India established itself as a democratic nation and assured to accept all regional
differences and demands.
India saw the demands and aspirations of the regional people not as a challenge but as
a supporter of democracy and a means of development and at the same time tried to
ensure that regional issues were also addressed in the policy making process.
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In this lesson, we will mainly deal with the same challenges that India had to face after
independence as well as know that how India faced those challenges and found
solutions.

Challenges
After independence, India had to face many challenges.
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There were large-scale agitations for separation from India in Jammu and Kashmir and
parts of the northeast.
There were also large-scale agitations in Nagaland and Mizoram demanding separation
from India.
The demand for the formation of states on linguistic basis gained momentum.
The Punjabi speaking people demanded a separate state for themselves.
In some parts of southern India, there was opposition to making Hindi the official
language of the country.
Many demands came to the fore to re-determine the internal boundaries of the states of
the country.

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 Post Independence Situation

Jammu and Kashmir

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

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Hari Singh.
Raja Hari Singh wanted to remain independent whereas Pakistan used to say that

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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
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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)

The main problem

After the end of the war, Jammu and Kashmir became a part of India.
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The following special rights were given to Jammu and Kashmir in the Indian
constitution through articles 370 and 35a:
Separate constitution
Separate flag
Approval of prime minister as chief minister and Sadar-E-Riyasat as governor.
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Preventing non-Kashmiris from buying property in Kashmir.

The need for the approval of the legislative assembly of Jammu and Kashmir to
apply the law of India in Kashmir etc.

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 External and internal disputes related to Jammu and Kashmir
External dispute
Since independence, ‘Pakistan’ has been claiming that the number of Muslims in
Kashmir is high, therefore the Kashmir valley should be a part of Pakistan, but
India has always opposed this because the king of Kashmir Hari Singh himself
signed the instrument of accession of India.

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At the same time, India also complains about the promotion of separatism and
terrorism by Pakistan in Jammu and Kashmir.

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Internal dispute
India has given special status to Jammu and Kashmir by article 370 and 35a in
the constitution, which is widely opposed.
Many thinkers believe that Jammu and Kashmir should also be given rights like
other states of India so that it too can be fully integrated with India.
While some others hold that the autonomy given by articles 370 and 35a is not
sufficient for Jammu and Kashmir.
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Political system of Jammu and Kashmir
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.
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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.
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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.

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 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.
In the 1987 assembly elections, the national conference and the congress alliance won a
landslide victory and Farooq Abdullah became the chief minister.

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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

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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
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government came to power.

Political system of Jammu and Kashmir after 2002

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
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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.
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Current status of Jammu and Kashmir

Article 370 was revoked by the government on august 5, 2019 and the special status of
Jammu and Kashmir was abolished
At present, Jammu and Kashmir is divided into two union territories, “Jammu and
Kashmir” and “Ladakh”.

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 Punjab
The partition of Punjab between India and Pakistan took place at the time of
independence, which brought about a major change in the social structure of Punjab.
A similar partition was done after independence in 1966 as well and two new states
Haryana and Himachal Pradesh were created separately from Punjab, due to which the
social system of Punjab changed in a big way.

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Akali dal and Punjab

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The Akali dal was formed in the 1920s as the political wing of the Sikhs.
In 1967 and 1977, the Akali dal formed a coalition government in Punjab.
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.
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Demand for autonomy

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.
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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
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some extremists supported the demand to separate from India and create a
‘Khalisthan’.

Agitation and violence

Soon the movement passed from the hands of moderate Akalis to the hands of
extremist elements and this movement took the form of armed rebellion.
These militants made the Golden Temple (A Sikh pilgrimage site in Amritsar), their
headquarters and converted it into an armed fort.
The Indian government started “Operation Blue Star” to get all these militants out of
the golden temple.

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 Under this operation, military action was carried out in the golden temple, due to
which this historic temple was damaged and the sentiments of the Sikhs were deeply
hurt.
The Sikh community considered this military action against their religious sentiments,
which further strengthened the extremist group and the extremists.

Indira Gandhi’s death, anti-Sikh riots and peace

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On 31 October 1984, Indira Gandhi was shot by her own bodyguards and Indira Gandhi

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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
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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.
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After the agreement

The situation did not return to normal even after the agreement:
Violence continued in Punjab for almost a decade.
Because of this violence, only 24 percent of the people came to vote in the elections
held in 1992.
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The security forces made massive efforts and suppressed this militancy but due to all
these reasons the common people of Punjab had to face a lot of problems.
The situation normalized in around 1997 and in the elections held during this period,
the alliance of Akali Dal and BJP won with a huge majority.
After that, with the passage of time, the situation in Punjab has become normal and
that politics is moving towards secularism.

Dravidian movement
The Dravidian movement was initiated by the Tamil social reformer EV Ramaswamy
Naicker who was also known as Periyar.

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 A new political organization was also established out of this movement.
This organization mainly opposed the supremacy of Brahmins and spoke of
emphasizing regional prestige while denying the political, economic and cultural
dominance of Northern India.
Initially, the Dravidian movement used to make its demands on the basis of the whole
of south India, but due to not getting much support in other southern states, this
movement was confined to Tamilnadu only.

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Later it was partitioned and its entire political legacy fell into the hands of the Dravida
Munnetra Kazhagam. Also known as DMK

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In the period from 1953 to 54, the DMK started a 3-point movement with the following
three demands:
Kallakudi railway station should be renamed as Dalmiyapuram.
The history of Tamil culture should be given more importance in the school
curriculum.
Opposed the state government’s Shilp karma education program because
according to the organization it promoted Brahminical outlook.
DMK got success in the anti-Hindi movement of 1965 and its influence among the
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people increased.
The DMK had a major success in the 1967 assembly elections and since then Dravidian
organizations have dominated the political system in Tamil Nadu.

Northeast India
There are mainly 7 states in northeast India, known as the seven sisters.
It includes Arunachal Pradesh, Assam, Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,
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Tripura and Sikkim.
These regions are home to about 4% of India’s population, and are connected to India
by a thin 22 km wide area.
These regions are bordered by China, Myanmar and Bangladesh and serve as a gateway
for India to southeast Asia.
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Development of Northeastern states

At the time of independence, Tripura, Manipur and the kadi hill region of Meghwal
were separate princely states, after independence they were included in India.
In 1963, a state called Nagaland was carved out of Assam.
Manipur, Tripura and Meghalaya became states in 1972 while Mizoram and Arunachal
Pradesh were given statehood in 1987.
Due to the separation from the main part of India, the development of the region was
not given much attention and refugees from neighbouring countries also remained the
main problem of this areas.

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 Three major issues dominate the politics of these regions:
Demand for autonomy
Separatist movement
Opposition of outsiders

Demand for autonomy

At the time of independence, except Manipur and Tripura, the rest of the region was

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called Assam.

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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.
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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.
The Karbi and Dimsa communities were given autonomy under the district
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council, the Bodo tribe was given the status of an autonomous council.

Separatist movement
The separatist demands had a long-lasting effect in the two Northeastern states, Mizoram
and Nagaland.
Mizoram
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At the time of independence, the Mizo mountainous region was made an

autonomous district within Assam, but the Mizo people believed that they were
never the part of British India, hence they have no affiliation with the Indian
union.
In 1959, the separatist movements in the region were further strengthened due to
heavy mountainous areas and the government of Assam was unable to manage
them.
The Mizo people got angry and formed the Mizo National Front under the
leadership of Laldenga.
The Mizo National Front launched an armed campaign in 1966 to advance the

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 demand for independence, and thus the conflict between the Indian army and the
rebels lasted for almost two decades.
The Mizo insurgents made their base in East Pakistan of that period.
In the struggle that lasted for almost two decades, the general public had to suffer
on a large scale, due to which the feeling of separatism and anger increased with
time.
Seeing the growing problem of apartheid, the Indian government and Laldenga
started talks and a peace agreement was signed between Laldenga and Rajiv

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Gandhi in 1986 under the leadership of Rajiv Gandhi.
In this way Mizoram got full statehood and was given some special rights.

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The members of the Mizo national front agreed to leave the separatist regime and
Mizoram is currently the most peaceful state in the northeast and at the same
time has made good progress in the field of art, literature and development.
Nagaland
In 1951, a section of the Naga people under the leadership of Angami Japu Phizo
declared themselves independent from India.
The Indian government tried to negotiate with Fizo several times, but he turned
down the offer every time.
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The region faced a prolonged period of violent insurgency, after which the Nagas
signed an agreement with the Indian government, but the rebels did not accept
this agreement.
The problem of Nagaland is yet to be resolved.

Problem of outsiders
There is a major problem of migration of outsiders to the states in the Northeastern
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region of India. The local people consider them different from themselves and oppose
them.
They believe that these outsiders are coming to their area and grabbing their land and
due to their large number, their influence is increasing politically and economically.
The issue of migrants is slowly becoming an important issue in the politics of the
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Northeastern states.

Assam movement
The best example of this is the movement against outsiders in Assam since 1979.
This movement started because the people of Assam suspected that a large number of
Muslim population from Bangladesh was coming and living in their areas, due to which
the danger of becoming a minority is increasing.
Along with the tea plantations in Assam, natural resources like oil and coal are

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 available. The people of Assam believed that these resources were being sent out, and
causing harm to the people of Assam.
In view of these problems and issues, in 1989, the All Assam Students’ Union (AASU)
started a movement against the foreigners.
AASU was an organization of the students of Assam and it had nothing to do with any
political party.
These movements were mainly against the growing numbers of outsiders and their

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names being wrongly included in the electoral rolls.
Their demand was that all the people who came to Assam after 1951 should be expelled

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from Assam.
This movement was supported by almost all the people of Assam.
Many violent incidents also took place in this movement, attempts were made to stop
trains and supply of oil refineries. in which there was loss of both property and life.
This movement went on for about 6 years and after that Rajiv Gandhi talked to the
leaders of AASU and made an agreement. In this agreement it was stipulated that all
the people who came to Assam during and after Bangladesh war in 1971 would be sent
out of Assam, this is known as the Assam accord.
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After the success of the movement, AASU and Assam Gana Sangram Parishad together
formed a political party, named Assam Gana Parishad.
The party came to power in 1985 elections and promised to solve the problem of
outside migrants and create a golden Assam.
After the Assam accord, peace prevailed in Assam but the problem of migrants could
not be completely resolved.

Sikkim
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At the time of independence, Sikkim was not a part of India, but its foreign and defence
related matters were in the hands of India while its internal system was handled by the
Raja Chogyal.
But this arrangement did not last long as most of the people in Sikkim were of Nepalese
origin and it settled in their mind that Raja Chogyal was imposing the rule of a small
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community (Lepcha Bhutia) on them.

Therefore people sought help from the Indian government and got the support of the
Indian government.
Sikkim legislative assembly elections were held in 1974 and Sikkim congress got a
majority in it.
Initially Sikkim tried to become a co-province of India and after this a resolution was
passed in Sikkim’s legislative assembly in 1975, under which Sikkim was talked about
fully merging into India.
Immediately after this proposal, a referendum was held in Sikkim and the decision
came in favour of merger with India and in this way Sikkim became the 22nd state of
India.

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 Lesson
First lesson:-
Regional aspirations are an important part of the democratic system.
Through these the government gets to know about the demands and problems of
the common people.
After their solution, people’s faith in the democratic system increases.

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Second lesson:-
Instead of opposing regional aspirations, a democratic dialogue is a better way to

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address them.
Third lesson:-
Importance of common people’s aspirations and contribution in countries power.
Fourth lesson:-
Economically equal development of all the regions in the country is necessary.

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