In this chapter, we are going to learn
about some internal challenges that India
faces. We shall see some internal
challenges like separatist movements,
issues of north-east India, naxalism,
communalism and regionalism.
The Unrest in Punjab : Akali Dal
was the major political party in Punjab.
In 1973, the Akali Dal passed the
‘Aanandpur Sahib Resolution’. The
following demands were made in this
resolution: Chandigarh should be made
part of Punjab, the Punjabi speaking parts
in other States should be included in the
State of Punjab, recruitment of Sikhs in
the Indian army should be increased, and
more autonomy should be given to the
State of Punjab. Akali Dal came to power
in Punjab in 1977. While taking charge,
they asked for a larger share of river
waters for Punjab, ‘holy city’ status for
Amritsar, etc. along with their old
demands.
In 1980, the movement for
‘Independent Khalistan’ took root in
Punjab. During that period, the leader of
the Akali Dal was Sant Harcharan Singh
Longowal. He used to direct his activists
from the Golden Temple to stage protests.
On the other side of the Golden Temple,
armed followers started gathering around
the staunch Khalistan supporter Sant
Jarnailsingh Bhindranwale. During that
period, terrorist activities had begun.
Bhindranwale was arrested in 1981,
accused of the murder of newspaper
editor, Lala Jagatnarayan. After this
incident, the situation worsened. Due to
these developments, President’s rule was
imposed in Punjab in 1983. Bhindranwale
went to stay at a religious place called
Akal Takht. Bhindranwale’s followers
captured the Golden Temple and built a
barricade of sand bags over there. The
area looked like a fort. This greatly
disturbed the peace in Punjab. It was a
major challenge to Indian democracy.
Operation Blue Star : The main
task of getting the terrorists out of the
Golden Temple was entrusted to Major
General Kuldeep Singh Brar. On the
morning of 3rd June 1984, the mission
‘Operation Blue Star’ started. The
Operation ended on 6th June. In this
military operation, the Indian army
functioned with great restraint. The
operation ended with the death of
Bhindranwale and other terrorists. In
1986, an operation had to be conducted
against terrorists in the Golden Temple
once more. It was called ‘Operation Black
Thunder’. After this action was taken, the
process of establishment of peace in
Punjab picked up momentum.
Do you know?
A military expedition taken up with
a particular objective is called an
operation. Operation Blue Star was an
operation undertaken to evict the
terrorists hiding in the Golden Temple.
Issues concerning North-east India
North-east India consists of the eight
States of Assam, Arunachal Pradesh,
Manipur, Meghalaya, Mizoram, Nagaland,
Sikkim and Tripura. International borders
of India touch each of the States to
varying extents. These States are different
with respect to ethnicity, language and
cultural diversity. The first Prime Minister
of independent India took the lead in
bringing the tribes living in these areas
into the mainstream of the country. In 1954, he formed the North-East Frontier
Agency (NEFA) area, comprising of the
territories on the Sino-Indian border and
the tribal areas towards the north of
Assam. Nehru took the position of
bringing about the development of
hundreds of tribes in these parts while
preserving their culture. Special provisions
have been made with respect to these
areas in the VI Schedule of the Indian
Constitution. In 1965, the responsibility of
administering this area was given to the
Ministry of External Affairs. The
Northeastern Council Act of 1971 was
supposed to advise the Central Government
regarding aspects of common interest in
economic and social spheres, inter-state
transport, electricity, flood control, etc.
Mizoram : The tribes in north-east
India have an ancient history. When India
became independent, the government gave
administrative autonomy to the districts of
Mizo majority areas of the Lushai hills.
When the States Reorganisation
Commission was appointed in 1954, the
expectations of the people in this area
grew. Mizo leaders started demanding an
autonomous ‘Mizo’ province. In 1959 the
territory of Mizoram experienced severe
drought. During this famine, Mizo leader
Laldenga served the common people a lot.
In 1961, Laldenga established an
organisation called Mizo National Front
(MNF). He asked for ‘Greater Mizoram’,
an independent nation carved out of
Tripura, Manipur and Mizo majority
areas from the Lushai hills. In March
1966, Mizo National Front announced the
emergence of Independent Mizoram. Prime
Minister Indira Gandhi handled the
situation firmly and suppressed the
rebellion. When the situation calmed
down in 1972, the Mizo majority area
was given the status of a Union Territory.
In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi
had an agreement with the Mizo National
Front and Mizoram was given the statusof a full-fledged State. Laldenga became
the Chief Minister of the State.
Nagaland : The Naga tribe in northeast India is known as a martial tribe.
The Naga tribe had settled in Eastern
Himalayas, the Naga hills, border areas
of Assam and Myanmar. In 1946, some
educated Naga youth established an
organisation called Naga National Council
(NNC). Later they made a demand for
an independent State of Nagaland. They
were led by Angami Zapu Fizo. In 1954,
the Naga National Council announced the
establishment of an independent federation
of Nagaland. In 1955, skirmishes happened
between local Nagas and the soldiers of
the Assam Rifles. Military action was
taken to suppress the skirmishes.
Several rounds of discussions took
place between the Central Government
and the Naga National Council. Central
Government decided to give the Naga
majority territory the status of a Union
Territory. Nagaland was made a fullfledged State on 1st December 1963 by
putting together the Naga majority territory
and part of Tuensang.
Assam : In 1983, there was an
intense agitation staged by All Assam
Students Union and Assam Ganasangram
Parishad over the question of the
dominance in Assam of Bengali migrants.
In 1985, Prime Minister Rajiv Gandhi,
Central Home Minister Shankarrao
Chavan and Assamese leader
Prafullakumar Mohanto signed an Accord.
It was decided to send the Bangladeshi
citizens who had infiltrated in Assam
back to their original places. In 1986,
elections were held for Assam Legislative
Assembly and Prafullakumar Mohanto, of
the Asom Ganaparishad became the new
Chief Minister. Due to this democratic
process, it became possible to establish
peace in Assam.
Arunachal Pradesh : In 1954, NEFA
was created. In 1972, it began to be called Arunachal Pradesh (region of the rising
sun). On 20th February 1987, it got the
status of a constituent State.
During the period from 1960 to 2000,
North-east India has progressed towards
a more matured democracy. This area is
on the path of progress through
industrialisation, spread of education, etc.
Naxalism
Naxalite Movement : This movement
started at Naxalbari in Darjeeling district
in West Bengal. The Naxalites organised
the small land holding farmers and land
labourers and took charge of their lands,
put up red flags and declared that area
as free territory in 1967. All those
movements that took inspiration from this
rebellion are called Naxalite movements.
The movement had the objectives of
establishing Action Committees to raise a
voice against the exploitation of the
farmers by the landlords and confiscate
the land of the landlords and distribute it
among the tenants. Later, the movement
strayed away from its objectives. It took
recourse to terrorism to prevent any
government schemes and welfare policies
from reaching the common people. The
Naxalites started a parallel system by
rejecting the democratic system. This
made Naxalism a serious challenge to
India’s internal security.
The movement was mainly located in
West Bengal. Later the movement spread
to East Godavari in Andhra Pradesh,
parts of Vishakhapattanam, Karimnagar
in Telangana, Adilabad, Bastar,
Rajnandangaon and Sukma in
Chhattisgarh, Gadchiroli, Bhandara and
parts of Chandrapur in Maharashtra,
Balaghat and Mandala in Madhya Pradesh
and Koraput in Odisha. In order to
maintain their influence, the Naxalites
established an organisation called People’s
Liberation Guerilla Army (PLGA). This
conflict is still going on. Communalism
Communalism is a serious threat to
the unity of our country. Communalism
emerges out of narrow religious pride. The
British sowed the seeds of communalism
in our country. People of different religions
have happily lived together since many
centuries. There is nothing wrong in people
of different religions living together in a
country while being duly proud of their
own religion. But when this pride becomes
excessive, then it turns into bigotry. Each
one then begins to consider their religion
superior and others’ inferior. This leads
to religious fanaticism.
Fanaticism is the base of communalism.
It makes one oblivious of national interest.
People of different religions don’t trust
each other. They become suspicious of
each other. Compatriots following different
religions are looked at as enemies. Even
commensality or coming together on
festivals becomes rare. As a result, it
becomes difficult for everybody to come
together and get organised for their
demands and rights as citizens. Fanaticism
makes the perspective of looking at events
and people prejudiced. Some people begin
to think of economic and social questions
also in the framework of their own
religion. Some people of all religions think
that since they belong to a particular
religion, they have no influence in politics.
They begin to believe that they are being
treated unjustly. They hold the idea that
government is partial against their religion.
In such a condition, they become too
sensitive about their religion and their
co-religionists. If anybody speaks about
the people of their religion or insults the
religious symbols knowingly or
unknowingly, riots break out because of
this kind of thinking. Hundreds of innocent
people are killed. Public property worth
crores of rupees is damaged. Public
peace is destroyed. Due to the bitter
memories of the riots, people are estranged from each other and mutual trust receives
a setback.
Trust between people is the basis of
coexistence. If trust breaks, social unity
receives a blow. How can national unity
be achieved without social unity? Hence
it is necessary that we all counter this
religious communalism with all our
strength. For this we should mix with
people of different religions. We should
accept the good practices and ideas of
each other. We should be able to look at
and understand our economic and social
problems rationally. We should not mix
these questions with religion. We should
search for the economic, political or
historical reasons that are responsible for
disturbing religious harmony. This is the
only way to put an end to communalism
and strengthen national unity.
Regionalism
Regionalism means having excessive
pride about one’s region. It is one thing
to introduce oneself as a Bengali or a
Marathi person. But if I think that because
I am a Bengali or a Marathi, I am
superior to others from other provinces; it
can be termed as excessive regional pride.
The love for one’s province turns morbid
due to this kind of an excessive regional
pride. It is natural to feel love for one’s
province, but it should not become
abnormal.
Regionalism thrives on regional
imbalance in development. In the postindependence period, some States achieved
more progress, while some States remained
backward. For example, States like
Maharashtra, Gujarat, Punjab, Tamil
Nadu developed economically and
industrially; whereas States like Odisha,
Bihar, Assam, remained undeveloped
economically and industrially. Economic
development and reforms are the
foundation of progress. As a result, the
States that develop economically can also
achieve progress in other areas like
education, health and culture. The States
which have not developed in this manner
remain backward in education and civic
amenities. The opportunities of
development available to people in
developed States are not possible for
people in backward States. They are
harassed by problems of education,
backwardness, unemployment, poverty,
etc. They begin to think that they are
being cheated; they are being kept away
from the benefits of development. Because
of this, the understanding between States
is broken. This in turn has a negative
impact on national unity. The economic
imbalance that has endangered this
understanding needs to be set right. Our
government makes efforts in that direction.
Regionalism can affect developed as
well as undeveloped States. The people
of developed States begin to believe that
they are superior due to their superior
history and culture and hence they have
developed that much. Then they begin to
look down upon the people of
underdeveloped regions. They are not
willing to share the benefits of development
with the backward States. On the other
hand, the people from backward areas
need to arouse their regional identity to
organise themselves. For this, they try to
unnecessarily glorify local traditions and
culture to prove their uniqueness. This
leads to regionalism. It endangers national
unity. The evil of regionalism can be
tackled by reducing the imbalance in
development.
We have studied a few challenges
that India is facing. Apart from these,
there are several problems like
overpopulation, cleanliness, agriculture
and the problems of the farmers, poverty,
housing and food. We are trying to
overcome these and move forward. We
are progressing steadily. In the next
chapter, we shall learn about progress in
the economic field.
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