Why Maharashtra’s ex-advocate general Shreehari Aney wants statehood for the Vidarbha region

It was a controversy over statehood for the Marathwada region that prompted Shreehari Aney to resign from his post as Maharashtra’s advocate general on March 22. But the widespread publicity his resignation received has come as a blessing in disguise for the real cause that Aney has always been passionate about: statehood for the state's impoverished Vidarbha region.

In the week since he quit the advocate general’s chair, Aney has been even more outspoken about his demand for a separate Vidarbha. He has addressed the issue at several rallies in the state and discussed it in several media interviews. On Thursday, unidentified assailants threw ink on him at a rally at Jantar Mantar in the Capital, soon after he met Delhi Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal in an attempt to bring national attention to the Vidarbha movement.

Aney has faced brickbats for his views from across the spectrum. On Sunday, Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut, for instance, went to the extent of comparing Aney to Pakistani terrorist Hafiz Sayeed simply for advocating the bifurcation of Maharashtra.

But matters came to a head last week when legislators across party lines disrupted the house because of a pro-Marathwada statement Aney had made a month and a half before that, in mid-February.

“I was at a public event and all I did was try to explain why Marathwada is not yet ready to be a separate state, even though it has suffered more than Vidarbha and deserves to be separate,” said Aney, who claims his statements were taken out of context when they were politicised by legislators. “I knew my views would have an impact but I did not expect the same tamasha as in the winter session. I didn’t expect that MLAs would not let the house function.”

Aney felt the need to resign, to prevent the chaos that could ensue if the state government failed to have a budget session or pass a budget. “If that happened, the government would have to fall, so I thought it best not to stay in my post,” said Aney.

Aney, however, insists that he has always voiced his views on Vidarbha and Marathwada in his personal capacity, not as an advocate general.

“I am not a leader of the Vidarbha movement, but I see myself as the conscience-keeper of Vidarbha,” said 65-year-old Aney, who had been appointed as Maharashtra’s advocate general just five months ago. Now that his resignation was accepted on March 26, associate advocate general Rohit Deo will temporarily take over the post.

Vidarbha: a brief history

An arid region in eastern Maharashtra, Vidarbha takes up almost a third of Maharashtra's total land area and houses 23% of its population. The 11 districts that make up Vidarbha include Nagpur, Amravati, Yavatmal – known for growing cotton and oranges – and Gadchiroli, known increasingly for the presence of Naxal activity. Vidarbha is also a drought-prone region that has seen some of the highest rates of farmer suicides in the country.

The demand for a separate Vidarbha state emerged much before Independence, at a time when Nagpur was the capital of a state called Central Province and Berar. In 1953, when the central government appointed its first States Reorganisation Committee, calls for a separate Vidarbha came from multiple activists within the region. In 1956, the Committee did recommend a separate state, but Vidarbha was eventually made a part of Maharashtra when the state was created in 1960, on the grounds that both territories shared the Marathi language.

However, to prevent a situation in which particular regions received inequitable distribution of state funds, resources and opportunities, a 1959 amendment to the Constitution gave specific protections to Vidarbha, Marathwada and other areas of Maharashtra and Gujarat under Article 371 (2). Despite this, Vidarbha and Marathwada – a smaller region in south-central Maharashtra – have suffered exactly the kind of economic discrimination that they were to be safeguarded against.

The demand for Vidarbha statehood has surfaced frequently and consistently in the past 50 years. The demand has faced staunch opposition from the Shiv Sena, but the Bharatiya Janata Party has been the only political party to officially embrace the cause and promise a separate Vidarbha in its 2014 election manifesto. In comparison, demands for a separate Marathwada have been sporadic and not backed by a significant people's movement.

From Marathwada to Vidarbha

Shreehari Aney, who has served as a president of the Nagpur Bar Association and a member of the Maharashtra Law Commission, hails from Nagpur and had been vocal about his demands for Vidarbha statehood even before he was appointed as the advocate general.

In December 2015, while releasing his book Vidarbha Gaatha at a public event in Nagpur, he called for a separation of Vidarbha from Maharashtra. His statement stoked a controversy that almost stalled the winter session of the state Assembly that was underway in Nagpur at that time. Almost the same situation repeated itself during the ongoing budget session of the Assembly.

While some media reports that claimed the advocate general’s remarks had embarrassed chief minister Devendra Fadnavis, Aney insists that Fadnavis has been extremely concerned about him. “The chief minister has actually doubled my security after my resignation,” said Aney.

‘No government wants to lose Mumbai’

Aney’s easy equation with Fadnavis has not stopped him from criticising Maharashtra’s Bharatiya Janata Party government for failing to fulfil its electoral promise of a separate Vidarbha state. “A lot of us from Vidarbha are extremely unhappy about this," he said. "The BJP used the separate statehood promise to consolidate its position in the 2014 election, and if they don’t go about it now, they will have to pay for it in the next election.”

Aney believes that independent statehood would help address Vidarbha's economic and agricultural problems simply because funds would be chanelled in the right directions. "Right now in Maharashtra, there is a basic problem of prioritisation – this state prioritises a new Panvel airport and new roads in Mumbai more than 29,000 farmer suicides,” he said.

“The NGO Jan Manch conducted a referendum in four cities of Vidarbha in 2013-14, and found an overwhelming demand for a separate state,” said Aney. “If the government holds an official poll or plebiscite, my guess is that 70%-80% of Vidarbha residents will want a new state.”

No government, however, has been willing to take that step so far, because opposing statehood despite a majority demand for it could lead to a violent agitation. “And no government wants a separate Vidarbha because losing such a vast territory would change the electoral numbers game at the Centre,” said Aney. “And no government wants to let go of the finances that come in by governing Mumbai city.”

Now that Aney is no longer advocate general, he plans to focus his energies on revitalising the Vidarbha movement on the ground. “We need to mobilise support from various other political parties across the country, which would help place more pressure on the central government,” he said. “The advantage for me is that I don’t belong to any political party myself.”