Undertaking a day-long fast in protest, Statehood activist and Pradesh Congress Committee programme in-charge Rajendra Shah submitted a memorandum to Chief Minister Harish Rawat, demanding an immediate stop on identification of Statehood activists. He said that people are pursuing their personal agendas on grounds of being Statehood activists.
An atmosphere of anarchy is being created in the State by the State Government’s soft stance on issues like provision of pension and job reservation for identified Statehood activists, he said. Shah said that job reservation in Government sector, pensions and other benefits being accorded to a few thousand identified Statehood activists whereas lakhs of people had participated in the Statehood movement.
Jharkhand and Chhattisgarh were also formed along with Uttarakhand but their State Governments neither accorded Statehood activist status on anyone nor provided special facilities for those who participated in the Statehood movement. The majority of those deriving benefits are doing so using unfair means while those who had participated selflessly in the movement have not been identified by the State.
Some people aged 30 years and below are now sporting Statehood activist identification cards whereas they would have been 10-years-old when the movement was at its peak in 1994. In the memorandum to the CM, Shah questioned that whether only a few thousand people had participated in the Statehood movementIJ
“More than 60 per cent of those who got identified as Statehood activists used devious to secure this status. Almost every resident of Uttarakhand — old, young, women, ex-servicemen, labourers, advocates, teachers, journalists and employees were involved in the Statehood movement and it is the collective efforts of all of them that led to creation of Uttarakhand,” he said.
After demonstrating with other Statehood activists outside Gandhi Park, Shah met the CM in the Vidhan Sabha and submitted his memorandum. According to Shah, the CM told him that a suitable solution will be worked out after considering all aspects.