Contextualizing the Separate Statehood for the Bundelkhand Region

Abstract

Mass movements with shared pasts of misery and exploitation with garnered leadership to create their own spaces of regional autonomy in form of states or provinces are addressed as “Regional Movements.” The people’s movements to seek autonomy are classified in three categories: (a) Statehood movement or seeking provincial status or separate statehood, (b) Autonomy movements or seeking regional autonomy within a nationalistic regime, (c) Secessionist movement or seeking separate nation status. These variations of regionalism could be categorically understood as regional movements which are emerging within India due to their historical cultural legacy. Indian constitution has permitted the discussion and possible creation of the first two categories in its several provisions under “States Reorganization Acts,” however, the secession is not permitted. Various scholars have done research work on the movement for the establishment of a separate state in different regions after the independence of India. Chaketi Raju wrote on Vidarbha region, K. Kamala has expressed her views on small states of India, Rakesh Nath Tiwari on Bundelkhand and Sangeeta Mishra on the movements for the establishment of Uttarakhand state and these are the notable writings on proposed study. The backwardness of the people residing in the Bundelkhand region and the Sour tribe here being away from the purview of development of this area compels the government to take specific measures and the apathy of the government is distraught them, that is why the demand for the establishment of a separate Bundelkhand state has also been going on for the last several decades to improve the status of the Indigenous people. This research has done to study the relevance and inevitability of the movement related to the creation of a separate Bundelkhand state. This article attempts to address the issue of statehood for Bundelkhand in the growing political development in the state of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh in the post-polls period. This study is also proposed to demonstrate the barriers and hurdles in achieving the statehood for Bundelkhand.