The separation of Bihar and Jharkhand

The year-end of 2000 brought the breakup season for Northern India. Chattisgarh split from Madhya Pradesh on 1st November 2000, Uttar Pradesh split into U.P and Uttarakhand on 9th November 2000 and finally, Jharkhand split from Bihar on 15th November 2000.

Bihar and Jharkhand on the map of India; Image source: Quora

Jharkhand, literally meaning the 'land of the forest' is known for its waterfalls, hills and holy places. Even though it's extremely beautiful, the state seems to suffer from a resource course. Jharkhand accounts for more than 40% of the mineral resources however 40% of its population lives below the poverty line.

However, in recent years, it has been doing quite well. In 2018 the GDP growth rate of Jharkhand stands above 10%. Many believe the backward conditions of Jharkhand lies in the fact that what up Jharkhand only began developing after it split up from Bihar. Why are such beliefs in circulation? What was the reason for this split?

The talks regarding the formation of Jharkhand weren't exactly new. Even before independence in 1912, a student of St. Columba's College in Hazaribagh proposed the idea of Jharkhand.

Jaipal Singh Munda becomes an important name in this story. Born on 3rd January 1903, he belonged to tribal communities in the Pahan Toli village. Now, this person is someone you would categorise as exceptional. He got his degrees from Oxford, qualified for Indian Civil Services, was exceptionally good at hockey, and became the captain of the Indian hockey team that won the gold medal at the Olympics, Amsterdam.

He was the first one to raise the demands for a separate state for Adivasis, which was rejected by the Simon Commission. 10 years later, in 1939, he established Adivasi Mahasabha. Again fast forward 10 years later, after India got independence, Jaipal Singh went to Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru, the then Prime Minister of India to demand separation from Bihar. For this Jawaharlal Nehru gave quite a beautiful reply.

Jawaharlal Nehru said, " Bhumi ke tukre ko baanta nhi jaa sakta", meaning a piece of land can't be divided or distributed. The line is somewhat true as land is a natural resource like air and water, how can you possibly divide it?

You might be thinking what were the reasons that Jaipal Singh Munda kept on demanding a separate state? He always gave two major reasons for this in all meetings. The first one was the linguistic and cultural differences from Bihar. In regions of Bihar, languages like Angika, Bhojpuri, Bajjika, Magahi, and Maithili are spoken while in Jharkhand, Adivasi languages like Santhali, Mundari, and Kurukh are prevalent. The other reason was the Adivasi population difference in both these areas. Bihar only had a 1% Adivasi population while Jharkhand had around 24% of the Adivasi population.

People say that separation was the best decision for Bihar and Jharkhand since there was a huge clash in the demography of these places. Jharkhand has a hilly terrain full of potential for mining projects and establishing industries while Bihar has a plain terrain that flows with rivers and is more suitable for agriculture. There existed big differences in geographical terrain meaning different sets of policies and governments are required to develop these areas which is why going separate ways seemed like an easier way for the development of both these reasons.

With these points in mind, Jaipal Munda transformed his Advisai Mahasabha into the Jharkhand Party. Now from a social organisation, it has become a party with political agenda. Jaipal's significance rose as his party won all the 32 seats of South Bihar (now Jharkhand). It was the year 1963 when K.B. Sahay became the Chief Minister of Bihar. K.B. Sahay in order to oppress the Jharkhand separation movement he offered Jaipal a place in the Congress party which he agreed upon thus ending the force of the movement.

The movement was only revived later by a student of Japail Singh, Shibu Soren who formed the Jharkhand Mukti Morcha (JMM). He and Lalu Yadav together formed a coalition to win elections in Bihar. At first, Lalu Yadav had agreed to let Jharkhand become a separate nation however, went back on his words saying Bihar and Jharkhand would only split over his dead body. This led to the end of the coalition between JMM and Lalu's party RJD.

Lalu's reign continued with Rabri Devi's rule. A lot of issues regarding this party came up relating to crime rate and corruption which earned them a bad reputation. The Bihar election of 2000 gave some shocking results. Not a single party was able to gain a majority in the parliament. RJD got 124 seats and BJP got 67. RJD began looking for other parties to form a coalition with to form the government. JMM, who got 12 seats refused to form a party with them. Against their wishes, RJD had to approach Congress. Congress agreed, however, on terms that changed the course of the future of these states.

Congress demanded that Jharkhand shall become a separate state. Lalu Yadav had to blow down to their demands. On 15th November 2000, Jharkhand become the new state of India.