A good consensus

In another indication that the battle for the next Uttar Pradesh assembly will be configured towards sub-regional aspirations,the Congress’s state unit has demanded a second States Reorganisation Commission. At the UP Congress convention in Varanasi,as the aftermath of the Bhatta-Parsaul protests continued to agitate speaker after speaker,in a positive intervention,the economic and political resolution dwelt on the demand for the trifurcation of the state — into western UP,Bundelkhand and Purvanchal. Dividing Uttar Pradesh to respond to local sentiment and to unbundle the state out of its administrative unwieldiness is an idea afloat for quite some time. And its time has certainly come.

Soon after the BSP gained a simple majority in the assembly in 2007,Chief Minister Mayawati had said her government was willing to pass a resolution in the Vidhan Sabha seeking the division of the state if the Centre was willing. It is an idea she has repeated subsequently by asking Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to take the initiative. And even before the Telangana agitation boiled over,the Congress-led government at the Centre had appeared to be open to a new States Reorganisation Commission. The UP Congress’s resolution now comes at a time when the simmering political campaign for the 2012 assembly elections enters the home stretch,and the Congress and the BSP have faced off over the development of Bundelkhand to clinch the political advantage — and the issue is bound to resonate in months to come.

The argument for smaller states is a powerful one,and it is especially so for UP. Administratively,smaller states are seen to bring government nearer to the people,they keep government more rooted in local aspirations and more accountable too. With smaller expanse they reduce the tolerance for sub-regional disparities. They also force politics to be more cohesive,reducing the space for local power-brokers to secure fiefs in order to transact deals with each other. The divisions for UP advocated by various political parties overlap substantially,but it needs a more thoughtful and non-partisan inquiry to determine what boundaries could bear optimum benefits and also reduce the possibility of acrimony. Making UP manageable administratively is one reform the Congress and the BSP agree on. The Central and state governments should act on it.