Last week a regional political party tried to get a share of the state’s politico sphere by making an announcement. If we don’t bother ourselves with the name of the political party, as it is a non-entity at present and has to make its mark by doing good work; we can focus on the more useful aspect –the announcement.

The party has announced that it would launch a Public Awareness campaign in support of Gairsen as permanent capital of Uttarakhand. Along with that its head also criticised MPs and MLAs for not raising their voice against the new delimitation policy plus the failure of the Uttarakhand Government to provide employment to local youths as per its declaration of reserving 70 per cent of jobs for them in industries.

The announcement and the two fillers—opposition of the Delimitation and the failure to ensure 70% of the jobs, are not new. Issues like these are the staple for any political party which enters or tries to make some ripples in the political scene of the state. But this fact doesn’t make the announcement important.

What makes the announcement interesting or important is the presence of the two issues—Gairsen as permanent capital and Delimitation, in the triplet.

If the issues raised by various political parties operating in the state, both at their launch and at some crucial moment are analysed, one is surprised to see that the two issues—Gairsen as permanent capital and Delimitation, always feature in them. Only difference being the place accorded to them. Sometimes these two occupy the centre stage, other times they are among the less illuminated ones. But one thing remains the same; these two are always the part of the entourage. This is not the case with state parties alone but also the national parties which wander into the state to make some political fortune.

So what cue can be taken from this fact?

The cue which I think should be taken is that irrespective of the conditions and the atmosphere, every logical and aware individual who wishes to carve a niche for him or her in the state’s politics finds it indispensable to raise these two issues.

Why? Because these two issues, are the part of the psyche of the masses, irrespective of the political affiliations, personal philosophy and the beliefs they hold.

Failure of the government to provide for 70% reservation in the jobs may not attract an individual with a job; but owing to their ability to bring development directly and more comprehensively, the Permanent capital and Delimitation issues can.

The Permanent capital issue is under consideration, so much can’t be done on the ground right now. So we are left with only one important task at hand—the opposition to Delimitation in its present form…

Before concluding the post, let I release the information that I held in the beginning, the political party whose antics made the foundation of this post is The Uttarakhand Sena.

(There is no such word as ‘non-entity’ in a democracy…so why make a mountain out of it!)
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