We want Bundelkhand state: Raja Bundela

Not long ago actor, director and producer Raja Bundela was bashed up by the little know 'Bajrang Sena' activists at a cinema hall in Bhopal after the release of powerful social movie titled Partha, which not only portrayed mental and physical exploitation of a village girl but showed some of the "priests working as thieves".  

The same Raja, who is a NSD graduate, is now playing a new role on the political stage to expose 'political thieves and exploiters' by launching a movement for creation of a separate Bundelkhand state comprising old 14 mineral rich, hunger-ridden districts of Uttar Pradesh and Madhya Pradesh. "The only solution to all problems-poverty, hunger, lack of development and non-existent infrastructure in region is the creation of a separate Bundelkhand. People are simply fed up with hollow politics of development packages" said Bundela laughing at both AICC general secretary Rahul Gandhi and UP Chief Minister Mayawati.

Recently, Raja Bundela who had also produced and directed popular TV serial Mujhe Chand Chahiye as head of Bundelkhand Mukti Morcha (BMM) announced action plan to remind the Centre of the promises made at the time of independence to the erstwhile rulers of Bundelkhand-Baghelkhand through a Covenant (Treaty) signed by 35 Rajwaras (Rulers) with Government of India. The Treaty had promised creation of United State of Vindhya Pradesh but instead of that the region was divided between UP and MP.

The action plan includes 170-km long two-week Jan Jagran Yatra from Chitrakoot to Khajuraho culminating in a convention in Khajuraho mid-December. Earlier, in course of a series of meetings in the region he kept harping on the theme that the rulers in Lucknow, Bhopal and at the Centre are treating the region the way British Raj had treated. Mayawati, who first favoured a separate state, now wants a special package of Rs 80,000 crores for development of Bundelkhand and Poorvanchal while Rahul Gandhi wants creation of Bundelkhand Development Authority with Rs 8,000 crore package. 'Why nobody wants a separate state"? asks Bundela.

The BMM has already created Bundeli Sena and enrolled over 35,000 youth so far to spread the movement and in a bid to make it a national movement it has established working relationship with K Chandrasekhar Rao-led Telangana Rashtra Samiti that is for fighting for a separate Telangana State, Shibu Soren-led Jharkhand Mukti Morcha, Ch. Ajit Singh-led movement for Harit Pradesh and Ram Kishen Singh Tomar who heads the movement for smaller states. Now Raja Bundela and BMM would knock the doors of the Supreme Court to get the 1950-Treaty implemented. According to a determined Bundela, Bundelkhand was a state with Nandgaon till 1935 with Kamla Prasad Saxena as Chief Minister.

Bundelkhand, the land of valiant rebels including Jhansi ki Rani, comprises seven districts of UP and six districts of MP besides 10 Lok Sabha and 60 Assembly seats. Geographically it lies between the Indo-Gangetic to the north and the Vindhya Range to the south with gently-sloping upland, distinguished by barren hilly terrain with sparse vegetation, although it was historically forested.

The region particularly in UP known for water famine and migration has its own glorious history dating back to 14th century when Pancham Singh Bundela (Maharaja Hemkaran), a Rajput clan, established Bundelkhand Kingdom. It was expanded during Emperor Akbar's time. Hindu mythology traces its separate identity and existence to Lord Krishna's time.

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Courtesy: India Today Magazine.