The debate on the creation of new states in India has been renewed with the government’s decision to allow for the creation of Telangana. Since  independence, India has experienced the creation of several states after prime minister Jawaharlal Nehru called for the setting up of the States Reorganization Commission. Previously however, states were created or reorganized largely based on linguistics. The more recent demands to create separate states in India stem from a feeling of social and economic backwardness.

The States Reorganization Commission in India in the 1950’s, declared that states in India should be divided based on language. After independence, it was in 1953, that a new state was created in India for the first time. Andhra Pradesh was carved out of Madras as the first state to be formed based on linguistics for the Telegu speaking people. The creation of Andhra Pradesh set the ball rolling for different groups in India to put forward demands for more states to be formed. In 1960, the state of Bombay was split into two resulting in the creation of Maharashtra and Gujarat.

The North East region of India was not to be left out of making its separate state demands, and in 1963, Nagaland was created out of Assam. The border dispute between Assam and Nagaland remains ongoing with the Nagas claiming that parts of the territory belong to them from the time of British rule, and Assam rebutting that claim with the argument that the border between the two has been awarded constitutional status.

In 1966, Punjab was divided to form two new states of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh. By the 1970’s, there was again a call for separate states in North East India. Meghalaya was carved out of Assam to become a separate state, Manipur and Tripura too became full-fledged states by 1972.

In August 2000, the creation of Jharkhand from Bihar, Chhattisgarh from Madhya Pradesh and Uttaranchal from Uttar Pradesh marked the passing of the first of such legislation in India in thirty years.

While the government has taken a decision on several occasions to allow for the creation of a new state, the debate continues as to whether such a decision is truly beneficial to the country.

When Andhra Pradesh was created in 1953, there were several concerns on whether to merge Andhra Pradesh and Telangana despite the common language. The people of Telangana voiced their concerns from the start, fearing that their economic backwardness in comparison to Andhra would result in their development being neglected. In addition, there was a worry that the people of Andhra would be more likely to benefit from the Krishna and Godavari river water. However, Nehru silenced these concerns stating that the merging of Andhra and Telangana would be like a “matrimonial alliance having provisions for divorce”.

The agitation in Telangana which started as far back as 1969 began as a protest against the improper implementation of the Gentleman’s Agreement of 1956 between leaders of Andhra and Telangana. However, the protests intensified when several students and protesters were killed in police firing after the call was made for a separate state. Despite attempts made by prime minister Indira Gandhi, the protests did not stop and soon more protests followed to counter the Telangana cause.

For a while in the 1970’s, the government was able to ease the tensions in the state and calm the violence. However, by the mid 1980’s protests were renewed when the people of Telangana once again felt that they were being wronged. It was in 1999, that the call for a separate state was made once again and was rejected in 2001 by the BJP.

The Telangana Rashtra Samiti was not satisfied and continued its struggle for a separate state. In 2009, when the TRS started a hunger strike in an attempt to pressurize the government, the congress reluctantly agreed to look into the issue of a separate state. But by the end of that year it was evident that the Telangana issue had been put on hold and once again violence hit the state.

Through 2011 – 12, protests and agitations continued for the Telangana cause until  2012 when there were attempts made to take the issue more seriously and find a peaceful solution. When all else failed, Nehru’s provision for “divorce” in the Andhra – Telangana merger came to light as the government in 2013 approved the creation of a separate state for Telangana.

However, it appears that the congress party has not only created the state of Telangana but has also created more problems for itself as there is now a debate around the possibility of the creation of a third state – Rayalaseema.

Going back to the creation of Nagaland, its border dispute with Assam has been in existence ever since its creation. Repeated attempts to resolve this problem by the government and third parties has failed and both states insist that their territory has been encroached upon by the other.

The creation of Haryana and Himachal Pradesh resulted in the ensuing water dispute between the two states. Under the leadership of prime minister Indira Gandhi, an agreement on river water sharing was reached. However, this agreement was later contested by the leadership in Punjab. This too was settled for a short while before the leadership in Haryana again raised the issue in the 1990’s. The issue was further fuelled when Punjab made demands to Haryana for the payment of royalty for providing river water. Haryana refuted the claim on the grounds that the water was rightfully theirs. The water sharing conflict continues to remain unresolved.

Giving in to demands for creation of new states has on numerous occasions created more trouble than good. More importantly, every such demand that is met gives rise to several more such demands from other parts of the country. After Telangana, there is now a greater push to divide Uttar Pradesh into four states of Purvanchal, Bundelkhand, Awadh Pradesh and Paschim Pradesh based on a state government resolution passed in 2011.

When talks for the division of UP began, it gave rise to demands for a separate state of Braj Pradesh which would comprise some parts of Rajasthan, some districts of Madhya Pradesh, parts of Agra, Aligargh and UP. With talks of separating UP gaining momentum, a wave of demands started in Bihar for the creation of Mithila, Bhojpur and Seemanchal. In Maharashtra, the call for creating the state of Vidarbha has long been in existence. This demand has again in recent times heated up with the government conceding to the creation of Telangana.

The government’s decision on Telangana appears to have spurred several other groups and factions across the country to push for their own similar demands. Whether it is the call for Gorkhaland, Bodoland, Karbi Anglong, Kukiland, Garoland and Dimaland in the North East, or the push for separate Saurashtra in Gujarat, the demand for Kongunadu and Tululand in the south or Konkan in Western India, the protests and want of new states keeps growing.

The creation of new states only weakens the fabric of the country creating further divisions between the people and providing more reasons for conflict and rivalry.