Telangana triggers separatism in Orissa

Similar demands to create more than one new state have been made in a few other bigger states like Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. But division of a comparatively smaller state like Orissa and cutting it into four pieces has certainly raised a lot of eyebrows in the public mind.

What is needed perhaps is strong rejection of this type of absurd and unrealistic demand not only by the common people but also by the political parties who seldom take a united stand on as volatile and sensitive issue as division of a state and creation of new states.

Luckily, almost all major political parties in Orissa have so far remained united on the issue and have reacted strongly against the demand for any kind of division of the state. It remains to be seen how long they maintain their united stand on the issue.
Inspiration?

A section of the people and local organisations in western region of the state have been pressing for a new Kosala state consisting of western Orissa districts. Though they had been demanding for formation of the new state since long, it had remained in cold storage till the recent disturbances in neighbouring Andhra Pradesh over Telangana.

Getting a fresh lease of life, following the developments in Andhra Pradesh, local outfits like the Kosala Kranti Dal have already organised agitational programmes for acceptance of their demand for new Kosala state.

They had recently staged a road blockade in all the western districts besides holding a token one-day dharna in capital Bhubaneswar. They have also managed to rope in college and university students of the region to support their cause. Students had recently boycotted their classes for a day, supporting the demand for creation of the new Kosala state.

Though not as vocal as their western counterparts, some local organisations in southern Orissa have already come out with a demand for creation of a separate Kalinga state consisting of all the districts in the southern region.

They have not yet launched agitational programmes like road blockades, bundhs or dharnas — but have already threatened to go for them if their demand is not accepted. “Though silently, our campaign for creation of a separate Kalinga state was on for the past several years. Now it will be done more vigorously and openly”, Gajapati Memorial Committee, one of the organisations demanding the formation of a new state in southern Orissa recently announced.

Similarly, a demand has also been put forward by a few organisations for creation of a new state consisting of districts in northern region. If all these demands are accepted, perhaps the original state of Orissa will be the smallest state in the country — consisting of only a few districts in coastal region of the present state.
If organisations in western, southern and northern regions have raised demands for creation of new states consisting of districts in their respective regions, there is an outfit called Kalinga Sena which has come out with an extraordinary demand.

The outfit has demanded creation of a ‘Bruhat (greater) Kalinga’ state consisting of not only the entire present Orissa state but also the Oriya dominated and speaking areas of neighbouring states of Andhra Pradesh, Jharkhand, Chhattisgarh and West Bengal.

This demand is as ridiculous and unrealistic as the demand for division of the present Orissa state into four parts for creation of three new states. What the leaders of the outfit seem to have forgotten is the fact that there are also Telugu, Hindi and Bengali speaking areas within Orissa in border districts and the neighbouring states can also come forward with similar demands for inclusion of these areas in their respective states.