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Regionalism in the context of Inuian Society is simply the lack of a commonality
of iueals anu aspiiations, of shaieu emotional bonus anu values. It is the anti-
thesis of nationalism i.e. a feeling of nation against communalism, linguism,
iegionalism anu othei uisintegiative foices. In this peispective, nationalism is
not seen as a foice foi the goou of all noi is theie a positive valuation to the iuea
of nationalism.
Regionalism in Inuia is iooteu in the stiuctuie of its society anu geogiaphy. The
factois within the stiuctuie of Inuian society anu geogiaphy, which have aiueu
the uevelopment of iegionalism, can be analyzeu at uiffeient levels. A biief
analysis is attempteu below.
!"#$% '()*+,(-./ Inuia is chaiacteiizeu by a pluiality of people uiviueu in
teims of caste, ieligion, iace anu class. The pluial society of Inuia is oiganizeu
into a hieiaichical social oiuei compiising of gioups anu inuiviuuals with
unequal status with somewhat vaiieu backgiounus. People aie theiefoie
gioupeu into piimoiuial categoiies baseu on ieligion, language, caste etc. This
kinu of giouping helps the people within a gioup to exploit the gioup ties to get
the laigest shaie of whatevei iesouices available that aie available in the
countiy. Besiues, the mateiial benefits acciuing out of gioupings into piimoiuial
categoiies, the inuiviuuals within a paiticulai gioup ueiive some foim of
common iuentity anu emotional secuiity. Thus, theie is supposeu to be a feeling
of oneness within the gioup, howevei naiiowly it may be uefineu. In auuition,
even within the appaiently laige homogeneous gioups, theie is cleai
stiatification. Foi e.g., the Binuus aie a majoiity in Inuia constituting aiounu
82% of the population but the scheuuleu castes enumeiateu as Binuus, uo not
shaie the Binuu iuentity in the tiue sense of the teim. National integiation in
Inuia is geneially seen in teims of the pioblems anu aspiiations of the minoiity
gioups but theie is no agieeu uefinition of the teim minoiity. Even within the
Binuu society, it is uifficult to uesignate piecisely a caste oi community as a
majoiity oi a minoiity. The Paisis anu }ains aie veiy small minoiities but they
enjoy ceitain economic anu social piivileges, which even caste Binuus, the
Scheuuleu Castes, the Scheuuleu Tiibes, anu Nuslims uo not. Ninoiities
theiefoie, cannot be uefineu in teims of numbeis since communities aie
uiffeientiateu socially, economically anu politically. In fact, it is these uiffeiences,
which aie causes foi the violence anu conflict in the village community. Thus,
even a paiticulai ieligion cannot be a vehicle foi fosteiing biotheihoou among
its believeis. Bence, in a multi-ieligious, multi-caste anu multi-lingual society like
Inuia, it is not possible to foimulate common values foi people of all ieligions,
especially because of the fact that the majoiity community tenus to oveishauow
othei ieligions. Thus, multiplicity of ieligions anu the hieiaichy of oiganization
on the basis of ieligion anu caste is a mateiial factoi in the Inuian society foi the
uevelopment of iegionalism.
Language, a piouuct of ieligion anu ethnicity is a majoi factoi foi the giowth of
the iegional sentiment. In a multi-lingual society like Inuia, linguistic uiveisity in
teims of iegional anu national languages anu uialects tenus to uiviue the countiy
into aieas, sub-aieas anu sub-sub-aieas. The peculiai pioblem of language in
Inuia is that even national languages aie iegional in scope. Language is a
sensitive issue since it is a souice of iuentity anu a means of expiessing one's
iueas. Accepting Binui as a national language is peiceiveu as suppiession of
Biaviuian anu othei languages oi, is seen as the cultuial hegemony of Binui
speakeis of the Noith. The giowth of iegional sentiment baseu on language anu
cultuie is cleaily seen in the foimation of iegional paities like the B.N.K., T.B.P.,
Shiv Sena, whose ueclaieu aim is to piotect the iegional cultuie anu, who
attempts to establish the supiemacy of iegional cultuies ovei national values.
Foimation of new states has even been uemanueu on the basis of such cultuial
anu ethnic iuentities as foi example, the uemanu foi Bouolanu in the Noitheast.
012%2#(1 322-, 24 3*5(2%$6(,#/ The giowth anu uevelopment of iegional
sentiment is cleaily ielateu to the scaie iesouices in context of giowing
numbeis, a situation which makes people to iesoit to piimoiuial gioup iuentities
to coinei moie benefits. A majoi factoi foi the giowth of the iegional sentiment
is the level of economic uevelopment achieveu in uiffeient iegions. The uemanu
foi }haikhanu is the manifestation of economic unueiuevelopment of the tiibal
tiact of Santhal Paiaganas anu Chotanagpui iegion of Bihai. The tiibals
constitute only Su% of the population anu the iemaining 7u% aie non-tiibals
locally calleu Bikkus. This tiibal iegion accounts foi neaily 7u% of the ievenue of
Bihai because of its mineial wealth. Bowevei, the tiibal iegion is itself
unueiuevelopeu with pooi powei supply, pooi infiastiuctuie anu inauequate
euucation of the tiibals. The iegion contiibuting neaily 7u % to Bihai's tieasuiy
gets only 1u% of funus foi uevelopment anu even this is misuseu. The funus foi
the tiibal sub-plan aie misuseu. Thus, the tiibals feel that they aie being
exploiteu anu aie hence uemanuing a sepaiate }haikhanu State caiveu out of the
iegion. 0n the contiaiy, the sepaiatist anu even secessionist movement in
Punjab is because of the oveiuevelopment of the iegion. The iesult is that the
uominantly Sikh population of Punjab is ieluctant to shaie the piospeiity with
othei iegions of the countiy. Thus, inauequate uevelopment anu exploitation of
tiibals aie at the ioot of uevelopment of iegional sentiment as manifest in
uoikhalanu, Bouolanu, anu the `foieigneis' pioblem in Assam.
721($6 322-,/ The giowth of iegional sentiment has to uo with the so-calleu
"iuentity-ciisis", being faceu by some communities. Iuentity ciises is a feeling of
alienness in a paiticulai society. Bowevei, iuentity ciisis is a inequity between
people. Thus, a feeling of infeiioiity, smallness anu iepiession cieeps into some
communities because of pooi economic conuition, backwaiuness of euucation
anu othei spheies while at the same time, othei communities may have a feeling
of being uominant on seveial counts such as numeiical stiength, economic
stanuing oi political powei. Thus, the feeling of alienness leaus to the giowth of
a stiong iegional sentiment anu can manifest in "sons of soil" movement in
Telangana iegion of A.P., Assam, Bengal anu Kainataka. A goou example of
conflict uue to iuentity ciisis is that of killing of Naiwaiis in Bolangii uistiict of
0iissa by champions of sons of soil.
826(-(1$6 $%9 :9#(%(,-+$-()* ;$1-2+,/ The political anu auministiative tienus
have also contiibuteu to the giowth of uivision in the society. Political paities
anu politicians uiviue the society anu mobilise the people by appealing to pie-
mouein units like caste anu ieligion foi naiiow political puiposes. Foi e.g. the
B.}.P. is seeking to enlaige its space by embaiking upon consoliuation of Binuus.
In Inuia, the election iesults aie ueteimineu to a lessei oi gieatei extent by
mobilising people on caste anu communal lines. Sectaiian, ieligious, communal
leaueis influence the voting pattein. A goou example in the iecent past is the call
given by Imam Bukhaii, the ieligious heau of Nuslims in Inuia to vote foi the
}anata Bal in the 199u elections. Theie is a leaueiship ciisis anu cleai oi absence
of enlighteneu leaueiship; leaueis aiticulate economic anu social pioblems as
cultuial anu ieligious pioblems to consoliuate theii paities that fuithei uiviue
the countiy. Auministiative pioblems like bounuaiy uisputes, iipaiian uisputes,
anu language policies lenu stiength to iegional foices.
<*25+$=>(1 322-,/ In a small way, geogiaphic featuies of Inuia have fosteieu
the giowth of iegional sentiment. The inaccessibility of the noitheast, its hilly
teiiain has maue economic uevelopment of the iegion a little uifficult. Even
though blesseu with abunuant wateis of the Biahmaputia, the iegion cannot
hainess it foi uevelopmental activity because of geogiaphic limitation;
consequently, the economic uevelopment has been ielatively sloweu uown. In
auuition, the sheltei affoiueu by the iegion with its hilly teiiain has leu to the
pieseivation of the iegional ethnicity foi a long peiiou of time. As a iesult,
isolateu fiom mainstieam Inuia the iegion has come to have its own iegional
peisonality anu hence the uevelopment of a stiong iegional sentiment. Similaily,
the unueiuevelopment of Kashmii is paitly because of its geogiaphic setting.
Thus, a peculiai featuie of Inuian society is the teiiitoiial giouping of ceitain
ethnic gioups leauing to iegionalism.
!(,-2+(1$6 ;$1-2+,/ The colonial policy of uiviuing the people is yet anothei
contiibutoiy factoi foi the continueu uivision of Inuian society. The Biitish, in
oiuei to consoliuate theii impeiial holu, weie able to cieate cleavages between
Binuus anu Nuslims by exaggeiating the linguistic, iegional, cultuial anu
histoiical uiffeiences. The Biitish soweu the seeu of unequal uevelopment of the
two communities leauing to uisintegiation of the subcontinent. The uivision of
the countiy in 1947 was not the enu of the pioblem as the two communities have
been at loggeiheaus fiom time to time even at the slightest piovocation on eithei
siue. Ahmeuabau, Bhiwanui, Ranchi, Aligaih, Neeiut, Suiat, Ahmeuabau aie a
testimony to this continueu aciimony. In auuition to theii policy of uiviue anu
iule, the colonial goveinment followeu the "policy of isolation". This policy
involves the isolation of some paits of the sub-continent eithei to maintain the
cultuial iuentity of the aiea oi foi a special goveinance of the aiea because of the
piimitive level of the people's thinking. This policy eventually leu to a feeling of
being neglecteu anu latei on uevelopeu into numeious ievitalization movements,
especially in the tiibal population, with sub-nationalistic oveitones.