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Movement for proposed separate Mithila state in India From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Mithila State Movement is a movement advocating a separate Mithila state in India. This movement gained momentum in 1902 AD when Sir George Grierson, an official of the British Indian government, prepared a map of Mithila state by conducting a language-based survey. In 1881 AD, the word Mithila was added to the dictionary of the British India government. According to the founder, president Dr. Dhanakar Thakur of the International Maithili Council in the proposed Mithila state, 24 districts of Bihar and six districts of Jharkhand, a total of 30 districts, have been included, which has a population of about 70 million. At the same time, the area is 70 thousand square km.[1]
In 1912, when a new Bihar province was separating from the Bengal presidency, the people of Mithila demanded a separate Mithila state based on Sir George Grierson's language-based survey of 1902. But the demand was rejected by the British India government, which stated that in the future, Bihar would be divided into two more states, Odisha and Mithila.
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In 1921, Maharaja Rameshwar Singh of Darbhanga Raj raised the demand for a separate state of Mithila based on the concept of creating “a series of self-governing provinces and principalities federated by one central government.” [2] In 1936, Odisha was separated from Bihar, but the demand of a separate Mithila state remained ignored.
India became independent in 1947, and from 1950 to 1956 many states were formed based on language, but a separate Mithila state was again ignored. The people of Mithila were aggrieved by this, and by 1950–1952, a movement developed. In 1952, Dr. Laxman Jha launched a major movement for a separate Mithila state. Later he worked only for Mithila-Maithili.[3][4] Mithila Kesari Late Janaki Nandan Singh raised the demand for a separate Mithila state and expressed opposition in the Congress party in 1954, handing over important documents for a separate Mithila state to the country's first Prime Minister, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, in 1956.[5][6]
In 1986, Janata MP Vijay Kumar Mishra revived the old demand for a separate Mithila state comprising the districts of Muzaffarpur, Darbhanga, Saharsa, Purnea, Bhagalpur and more of the district of North Bihar. The revival came in the form of a three-day rail roko agitation organised by him.[7] In March 1996, Mithila Rajya Sangharsh Samiti initiated a mass-contact campaign for the demand of a separate Mithila state, and in the month of July of the same year, Mithlanchal Vikas Congress demanded the formation of an Autonomous Development Council for Mithila.[8]
In 2000, Jharkhand was separated from Bihar, but the demand for a separate Mithila state again remained ignored.[9] After the separation of Jharkhand state, the former Advocate General of Bihar, former Chairperson of the Bihar Legislative Council and BJP leader Pt. Tarakant Jha, announced the movement for a separate Mithila state on 4 August 2004 in a press conference. In 2007 he started a signature campaign to demand the creation of a separate state of Mithila for the people who speak Maithili. He said, "We will collect signatures of 10 million people in support of the demand for creation of a separate state of Mithila and submit it to the President of India".[10] After being expelled from the BJP, he continued to advocate the Mithila movement, but as soon as he became a member of the Legislative Council he put the movement on hold. He died in May 2014.
In 2008, JD(U) Party's state president Shravan Chaudhary said that his party favored the formation of a separate Mithila state with respect to 18 Lok Sabha and 108 assembly constituencies of North Bihar. According to him, this area is very backward since independence. Every year people of the area face flood situation, and industries in the region are also in ruins. Therefore, the formation of a separate Mithila state is the only solution for the development of this region.[11] In 2015, Cricketer-turned-BJP MP Kirti Jha Azad demanded a separate Mithila state for Maithils. According to him "Mithila should be a separate state if not a separate country". He raised this issue in the Parliament of India to fulfil the old dream of a separate Mithila state for Maithils in North Bihar.[12][13]
In 2018, former chief minister and chief opposition leader Rabri Devi favoured the demand of separate Mithila State for Maithili speaking in North Bihar at Bihar Legislative Council. She demanded with the chairperson of the council to create a separate Mithila state for Maithili-speaking people. The issue was raised after the demand of legal sanctity for the use of Maithili language in official works of the Bihar government by the then BJP MLC Suman Kumar's non-government resolution at the council.[14] In 2019, three BJP leaders, Gopal Ji Thakur MP from Darbhanga, Ashok Kumar Yadav MP from Madhubani and Sanjay Saraogi MLA from Darbhanga Nagar, raised the demand for a separate Mithila state at 47th Vidyapati festival celebration ceremony organized by Vidyapati Seva Sansthan and held in Darbhanga. They stated that they would take the state of Mithila by violence, as opposed to begging from the government.[15] Akhil Bhartiya Mithila Rajya Sangharsh Samiti had been continuously staging a strike for a separate Mithila state on the first day of every session of the Indian parliament for the previous several years. National President of the Akhil Bhartiya Mithila Rajya Sangharsh Samiti Dr. Baidyanath Chaudhary "Baiju Babu" said that without social, cultural, economic, political and linguistic independence of Mithila, development of the entire Mithila region is impossible.[9][16] On 18 July 2022, he said that the identity of Mithila is being disappeared in Bihar. Meanwhile, Mithila Rajya campaigners Pandit Ashok Jha, Praveen Narayan Choudhary, Jayanti Jha, Savita Mishra, Anju Jha and senior campaigners Pandit Harekant Jha said that Mithila has lost momentum and direction due to government negligence. Education and health standards are falling sharply. Major demands were put forward during the meeting including separate Mithila state, preservation and promotion of Maithili language, comprehensive development of Mithila and 35-point demands. Also, permanent solution to floods by building dams in Nepal, AIIMS, IIT, IIM, Doordarshan in Maithili, establishment of IT park, establishment of High Court bench, prevention of migration and unemployment and creation of Mithila Regiment in the Army are prominent. A memorandum was also submitted to the President, Prime Minister and Home Minister led by Madan Kumar Jha and Hiralal Pradhan.[17][18]
Mithila Student Union is the biggest students union in Mithila region of Bihar. They have started a movement for the separate Mithila state in India from the present Bihar on social media and mass contact campaigns. The organisation had planned a huge public protest on 21 August 2022 at Jantar Mantar in the national capital of India in New Delhi. The organisation held a huge mass public protest at Jantar Mantar. The public gathering at the protest demanded a separate Mithila state from the present Bihar state in India. In the protest people and young students from different districts of Mithila region arrived to took part in the protest.[19] The non resident Maithils in Delhi also took part in the protest. According to some media reports the protest for Mithila State carried out by the organisation is biggest students protest for the demand of separate Mithila state till now.[20][21] More than ten thousands of youths had reached at the Jantar Mantar in New Delhi. Several political figures were also seen at the protest, in which Aam Aadmi Party MLA Rituraj Jha and former MP Mahabal Mishra were prominent.[22] Similarly another mass gathering movement for the separate Mithila State was carried out at Gandhi Maidan in Patna on 4 December 2022 by the volunteers of the Mithila Student Union. The volunteers of the Mithila Students Union (MSU) took out a march to Raj Bhavan in Bihar capital. But the Bihar police stopped the march midway forcefully. The march was called off after the administration took a five-member delegation of the organisation to the Raj Bhavan, which submitted a memorandum to the officials present there. MSU president Amit Kumar Thakur said to media “We have submitted a memorandum at the Raj Bhavan so that our demand could reach the Centre and appropriate action is taken." He further added "According to the Niti Aayog the districts in the Mithila region are among the most backward in the country in almost all parameters. It has been neglected by the ruling parties since Independence,” Another leader Vidya Bhushan Rai told to online edition of The Telegraph that the economy, industries, agriculture, tourism, and education of Mithila region had been exploited and destroyed by the Bihar government. He also said “This despite the fact that it has been a seat of culture since ancient times to the British period. The region can fulfil all requirements to become a separate state, but has been ravaged by floods, poverty, unemployment and migration.”[23][24]
Akhil Bharatiya Mithila Rajya Sangharsh Samiti has started a footwalk campaign journey from 17th March 2023, which will cover around 700 kilometers in 70 days in the Mithila region. The journey started from Purnia district of the Mithila region. National Spokesperson cum Media Incharge Sushil Kumar Jha of the organisation said "We want a Mithila state. This will give us two airports, two AIIMS and two IITs. Similarly with the formation of Mithila state, all facilities like health, education, transportation and roads will start in the region".[25][26]
The main role of Mithila State Movement is being done by 'Antarrashtriya Maithili Parishad', 'Mithila Rajya Nirman Sena', 'Sanyukta Mithila Rajya Sangharsh Samiti' 'Mithila Student Union' and The Pro Maithils.[27][28][29]
The major demands of the movement are
"Bhikh naay odhikar chahi, hamra Mithila Rajya chahi"
"Badd Kelho Upekchhit Bybhaar
Aab naay rahbo Bihar ke Bhaag
Bihari naay Hummy Maithil Chhikiye
Mithila Rajya Chhai Hummar Maang"
"Sitaram Sitaram, Swarg se Sundar Mithila Dhaam"
"Maithil naay karho bahar mai kaaj, Odhikar mange mai kathi ke laaj?"[41]
Mithila Chitrakaari wala Bordered Maroon Gamchha = Maithil ke Pahichaan
"Bihar Maithil ke Biboshta Chhikai, Mithila Rajya ke Oboshakta Chhikai"[42]
"Ekta sankalp dhiyan mai, Mithila Rajya huy samvidhan mai"
"Jangarna mai Maithili Samvidhan mai Mithila"
In the earlier period, Mithila was full of industrial estates. There were many industries in the region in regime of Darbhanga Raj Kingdom. These industries were flourishing the economy of the region. After the independence of India, the rule of Darbhanga Raj Kingdom ended and then the industrial estates of the region started gradually closing due to the negligence of the central government as well as state government of Bihar. The region was full of many sugar mills, cotton mills, paper industries, chocolate factories and many more agricultural industries. In the last three decades,[clarification needed] due to the castism politics in Bihar by the leaders there, the agenda of industrial development got neglected and gradually industries got closed. Nowadays these industrial estates have become ruins. This led to the migrations of labours and human resources from the area to the metropolitan cities of the country.[43] The sugar mills of Sakari, Lohat, Raiyam and Samastipur was very famous in the country. Mithila was the bowl of sugar in India three decades ago. Hayaghat was famous for Ashok Paper Industry and similarly Pandaul was famous for Cotton mills. Purnea, Saharsa, Katihar, Muzaffarpur and, Darbhanga was famous for Jute industries since 1794 up to 1990.[citation needed]
Naugachhia, Sitamarhi, Madhubani, Darbhanga, Purnia, East Champaran, Muzaffarpur, Saharsa, Vaisali, Madhepura, Begusarai, Munger, Bhagalpur, Samastipur, Sheohar, Supaul, Araria, Katihar, Kishanganj, Banka, West Champaran, Khagaria, Jamui, Lakhisarai, Sheikhpura and some districts of the present Jharkhand which are Deoghar, Dumka, Pakur, Godda, Jamtara and Sahibganj. Currently Begusarai is industrial and financial capital of Bihar and economically one of the most prosperous region in Bihar and Mithila region. Begusarai is the Cultural capital of the Mithila. Sitamarhi is the birthplace of Goddess Sita of Mithila. Some scholars claimed Baba Baidyanath Dham as the part of ancient Mithila. According to Ramayana and Mahabharata the entire part of land from North Ganga to Himalaya and Gandak (Sadanira) is the part of Greater Mithila Kingdom. The Greater Mithila is also called as Videha in the ancient Vedic texts and Vajjika in democratic Mithila Empire after the end of Janaka period in Mithila Kingdom. In the period of Vajjika League the centre of Mithila was shifted to Vaishali.
In this period Buddhism flourished in the region of Vaishali. In the period of Nanyadeva , the centre of Mithila was at Champaran
. In the period of Mahesh Thakur, the centre of Mithila was at Madhubani and Darbhanga. The last kingdom of Mithila was Darbhanga Raj Kingdom. This kingdom ended after the independence of India. The Kingdom got merged into the Union of India in 1947 and became the part of present Bihar state demanding the separate Mithila State for Indian part of Mithila.
Mithila is the part of Ramayana, Mahabharata and ancient Indian philosophy. Mithila has tremendous opportunity to start up religious tourism in India. There are many ancient sites in the region which has potential for religious tourism to flourish but due to negligence of Bihar government this tourism have not flourished yet. Baliraajgadh is a very ancient site in Mithila but it has yet not been come out on Tourism site by the government there. Rajnagar is a very beautiful city of Mithila. It was built by Maharajadhiraja Rameshwar Singh of Khandwala dynasty of Mithila. The ruins of the Rajnagar Kingdom has a lot of opportunity to start tourism for Film City but it is yet neglected by the government there. Janaki Kund at Purauna Dham in Sitamarhi is the birthplace of Sita. This place has lots of potential to bring Hindu pilgrims from across the world. But the local government has not branded this site as tourist centre, so the site is suffering from negligence.
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