Nagpur: Banking on the BJP‘s long-standing promise for a separate Vidarbha, the Vidarbha Rajya Andolan Samiti (VRAS) on Sunday urged Union minister Nitin Gadkari to fulfil the party’s 1997 promise by raising the statehood demand in the Lok Sabha during the Monsoon Session beginning Monday.A VRAS delegation met Gadkari and submitted a memorandum seeking immediate steps towards the creation of a separate Vidarbha state. The outfit argued that with BJP leading the Union govt, the time was ripe to revive the decades-old demand and translate the party’s earlier commitment into action.Leading the delegation, VRAS East Vidarbha division president Arun Kedar reminded Gadkari of the BJP’s national executive resolution adopted at its 1997 Bhubaneswar session, where the party formally backed the creation of a separate Vidarbha. The memorandum urged the ruling party to remain true to its stand and ensure the issue is raised in Parliament during the current session.“The people of Vidarbha have waited for decades despite repeated assurances. The Centre should now initiate the process of creating a separate state,” the memorandum stated.The organisation linked the statehood demand to what it described as the region’s continuing developmental imbalance. It cited the recurring agrarian crisis, rising farmer suicides, unemployment among youth and what it termed inadequate attention to Vidarbha’s economic and administrative needs despite its abundant natural resources.According to VRAS, these structural issues cannot be addressed through piecemeal measures and require a governance model dedicated exclusively to the region. The outfit claimed a separate state would enable faster decision-making, better utilisation of resources, improved infrastructure and more employment opportunities while allowing policies to be framed around Vidarbha’s specific requirements.The delegation also alleged that Vidarbha continued to face economic and social exploitation while remaining part of Maharashtra, and asserted that only statehood could ensure balanced regional development and justice to the people.Among those who accompanied Kedar were Mukesh Masurkar, state president of the VRAS Youth Wing; Sunil Chokhare, vice-president (East Vidarbha); Naresh Nimje, Nagpur city president; Prashant Nakhate, Nagpur district president; Jyotitai Khandekar, city women’s wing president; Rahul Bansod, city coordinator; Ganesh Sharma, senior pro-Vidarbha leader; Amul Sakure, transport wing president; Shahid Anwar, minority wing president; Gangadhar Mundkar and Chandrashekhar Shende.The memorandum marks VRAS’ latest attempt to bring the separate Vidarbha issue back into the national political conversation, with the outfit hoping the Monsoon Session will rekindle debate on one of the region’s oldest and most emotive political demands.
