A Nation Divided

With growing demands for smaller states I thought Mr SN Singh's view echoes what a large section of people think. Then there's the question: How has the creation of three new states, probably at the time this letter to the editor was written, helped the country progress?

Jan 23, 2001. From the letters column of the Times of India

Satya Narain Singh of Bhopal writes:-

This is with reference to article "Sizing up States - Federalism is the order of the day' Jan 11) by Ravindra Kumar. I disagree with Mr Kumar's view that the British reorganised states because they were pursuing a policy of divide and rule. The decision to map states, delineate their boundaries and the other two major policy decisions: separation of Bihar and Orissa from Bengal on December 12, 1911 and separation of Orissa from Bihar in April 1936 are not indicative of any mala fide intention on their part. In fact, even the partition of Bengal in 1905 on communal basis was reversed in 1911, al;beit under gr4eat pressure.
In fact at no time during their rule did the British try to create a linguistic schism in Indian society.Instead, the British must be credited with truly uniting - for the first time in Indian history the country's multilingual communities from Kashmir to Kanyakumari into a single modern state. Thus the British inadvertently founded the modern Indian state.
For a diverse multi-ethnic, multi-religious and multi-cultural country like ours to maintain its unity it is necessary that local, parochial and regional tendincies must be subservient to the nationalistic tendency.
However, the creation of small states on linguistic lines is slowly inculcating local and regional tendencies in people creating a crisis of identity. This is the reason why political instability is taking root in India and the reason why we lack a prominent national leader.
Instead of trucating states, the government should, with conviction, move to alleviate poverty, control population and provide employment opportunities. The mere creation of new states is not likely to tackle these problems, only concerted action will bear fruit.
Satya Narain Singh, Bhopal