Pawar Warns Against Creation Of Smaller States

Leader of the Opposition in Lok Sabha Sharad Pawar yesterday warned the time was not yet ripe for creating smaller states adding that the country will have to pay the price if the BJP government went ahead with it.

In his first-ever visit to Mumbai after his election as Opposition leader in Lok Sabha, Pawar said crucial decisions like creating of smaller states can create havoc in the entire country and should be put off till a stable government is in place at the Centre.

The country went through a critical situation when linguistic states were created soon after independence. It was only a stable government under a strong leader like Nehru that saw the country through. It is not the same situation today. The government is not stable enough to take such decisions. Today, you will create Uttaranchal (Uttarakhand) and Vananchal (Jharkhand) states, what will stop other regions from asking for separate states, he said.

Pawar pointed out that Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had appreciated the rise of regional parties in states. But this does not augur well for the country especially when there is a weak Centre. If the Centre is strong, regional parties ruling in several states is fine, but not otherwise, Pawar felt. We (Congressmen) should take up the challenge or else, the coming generations will have to pay the price, he said.

Pawar also expressed concern over the economic situation facing both the country and Maharashtra. The economic breakdown in South East Asian countries like Malaysia and Indonesia has made India very vulnerable. It is not an easy situation. The Congress will not create any situation that will lead to instability. He said: All I can assure is that this Parliament will last its full five years. But I cannot assure if this government will last that long or not. Its own inner contradictions will bring it down. But we will make sure there is no vacuum once the BJP-led government falls. Alternative has to be given and we will give it.

Regarding Maharashtra, he said he was shocked to learn that the state was sinking intobankruptcy. Pawar said that according to Planning Commission figures the state has merely Rs 2,100 crore to spend on development projects out of a Rs 21,000-crore budget, the rest being spent on establishment cost.

Addressing the Congress legislature party, which felicitated him in the morning, Pawar said, The state will soon be in no position to pay interests on its borrowings and soon there will be no development. It is necessary for us Congressmen to tell the people of the state that this is what the Shiv Sena-BJP government has done to the state which was in an extremely sound financial position when the Congress government left it in 1995.

He asked the state Congress leaders to be alert regarding the BJP government, especially in connection with the home, human resource development and information & broadcasting ministries. The country will suffer for generations if there is any tinkering done by BJP in the field of education and womens education to push through its ideology.