There is a feeling of dejection and agony among the people of the mountainous areas of Uttarakhand as the political parties did not care to raise the issues related to their very existence during the campaign for the general elections. The electioneering in all the five lok Sabha constituencies of the State was primarily concentrated around the personalities of BJP’s prime ministerial candidate Narendra Modi and Uttarakhand Chief Minister Harish Rawat. Interestingly, the candidates of both the BJP and the Congress sought votes in the names of Modi and Rawat only and sidelined the real issues.
The campaign for the run up to the elections on May 7 witnessed meetings of top brass of both the BJP and the Congress. The campaign was shrill and was marked by below the belt personal attacks on the political opponents. Ironically in the issues of development and local problems were buried in the highly personality centric campaign.
The founder of land Consolidation movement in Uttarakhand Ganesh “Garib” felt dejected by the level of politics and told The Pioneer that the real issues were not raised by the political parties. He said that villages which form the basic unit of our society were totally ignored by the politicians. Garib said that BJP blames the Congress for engaging in dynastical rule but is engaging in individualistic politics by promoting Narendra Modi.
He added that villages in the state are ruined completely and people have left farming to migrate toward cities. The Pioneer of Consolidation movement said that the villages and their economy could be saved by land consolidation only. He blamed the successive Governments of only talking about the consolidation and doing nothing for it to happen on ground.
The basic problem of mountainous areas is large scale migration, many remote villages in Pauri, Chamoli, Tehri, Uttarkashi, Rudraprayag, Pithoragarh and Almora districts are almost empty. SS Rawat a retired army personnel and resident of Marda village of Pauri district told this correspondent that only aged persons are left in his village. lack of Government initiatives to provide self-employment opportunities, failure to promote tourism and agriculture, and lack of facilities is forcing people to migrate towards cities and towns. The problem is of strategic importance also as the state shares international border with a hostile China.
The founder of Himalayan Environmental Studies and Conservation Organisation (HESCO) and recipient of Padmashree award Anil Joshi said that political parties do nothing to address the issue of migration. He said villages in the mountains require a little help from the Govt to flourish.