Nagpur: As the entire State celebrated Maharashtra Day with gaiety and fervour , the pro-Vidarbha activists celebrated the day with unique protest demanding a separate Vidarbha state on May 1. The protestors pasted ‘Vidarbha’ stickers on the signboards of some state administrative offices in Nagpur on Sunday, covering the word Maharashtra, according to media reports.
Every year the Vidarbha protagonists celebrated May 1 as ‘black day’ demanding separate Vidarbha state. Notably, May 1 is celebrated as statehood day for Maharashtra and Gujarat after the two separate states were carved out on a linguistic basis out of the erstwhile colonial Bombay Presidency on May 1, 1960. On Sunday midnight, pro-Vidarbha protestors pasted Vidarbha state stickers on signboards of Maharashtra State Administrative Offices in Nagpur.
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Wednesday 06 Nov. 2024
Nagpur, which is officially the Second Capital of Maharashtra after the state formation witnesses similar protests every year on this day. The protestors claimed that since the inclusion of the region in Maharashtra, Vidarbha has been sidelined in terms of development. They have alleged that as compared to other regions in the state, the development of Vidarbha has been abysmally low and has been stalled.
The reports further said that the Vidarbha activists tried to stage a protest when the State Energy Minister Dr Nitin Raut was presiding over a function to commemorate Maharashtra Day at the city’s Kasturchand Park on Sunday morning. The protestors gave slogans in support of a separate Vidarbha state while Raut was about to give his speech during the event. The city police detained some pro-Vidarbha activists following the incident.
Movement for separate Vidarbha:
The movement for carving out a separate Vidarbha state dates back to the 1950s when scholars and thinkers from the region demanded an independent state owing to its long history. Modern-day protests have emerged after sentiments arose that Vidarbha, which is located far away from the state capital of Mumbai and other political power centres in Maharashtra, has been sidelined in terms of development. Pro-Vidarbhites while raising prevailing issues of farmer suicides, droughts and power cuts that grapple the region think a separate statehood for Vidarbha would solve their problems.
