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Journalism of Courage
Dust off your wish list. Reimagine the territorial, riparian and legislative rights of your state! Our legislators have a new hobby, and your demands may just fuel their activities. Competitive federalism is the new sport, and in state assemblies MLAs are bonding like never before by passing resolutions. The Uttar Pradesh legislature has just passed a resolution seeking the re-inclusion of Udham Singh Nagar and Hardwar, currently part of Uttaranchal, in the state. Last month the Punjab assembly unanimously tossed aside water sharing accords carefully constructed over decades, and pledged to withhold its waters resources for its residents alone. And if the Centre and the Congress party do not keep their wits about them, Manipur8217;s MLAs could tip the state more firmly into chaos by steering through a resolution changing its status as a 8220;disturbed area8221;, making the Armed Forces Special Powers Act inoperational. As for the rest of the country, don8217;t even try to guess an assembly8217;s intent. The absurdity of Punjab8217;s and Uttar Pradesh8217;s adventurism has opened up new, no matter how foolhardy, possibilities.
The sooner the Central government and political parties swing into action to terminate this rash of resolutions, the better it will be for the health and viability of longstanding constitutional arrangements. Take UP8217;s exercise in acquisitiveness. The Udham Singh Nagar issue was cause for much anguish six years ago, when the boundaries of the then proposed state of Uttaranchal were being finalised. All kinds of arguments based on topography, ethnicity and Kumaon8217;s history were put forth to wrest the fertile terai region for UP. Thankfully, the acrimony of those days dissipated, and Udham Singh Nagar and Hardwar were smoothly incorporated into Uttaranchal. By laying claim to them once again, the Mulayam Singh government violates every norm of territorial co-existence.
