5 Things To Know About Madhya Pradesh

Madhya Pradesh has influenced the India story via several events and personalities, starting right from the time of Independence. Here are 5 events & personalities that shaped its history

The state of Madhya Pradesh (MP) was formed on November 1^st, 1956 and completes 58 years of its existence this week. Despite being the largest state in the country for 44 years, until Chhatisgarh was carved out, the visible connection of Madhya Pradesh with national politics and general discourse has been limited. Only in the last decade, the state has been increasingly talked about at the national level, primarily driven by rapid economic growth – most of which comes from the strides made in the agricultural sector.

Despite the fact that not much is written or appreciated about the state’s contemporary politics, MP has influenced the India story via several events and personalities, starting right from the time of Independence. As MP moves into its 59^th year, this article recaps 5 such instances.

1. The Formation of Indian Union – Accession of Bhopal and Indore

While the stories of the accession of the princely states Hyderabad, Junagadh and Kashmir to the Indian Union are well documented, it is not commonly known that apart from these states, Bhopal and Indore were the other states which came in to the Union very late. The reasons for the defiance of Bhopal were similar to those of Hyderabad, while in Indore’s case, it was a question of not accepting the reality of the day.

Bhopal was the second largest Muslim state at the time of Independence after Hyderabad. The state had a long history of co-operation with the Mughal rulers or their local chieftains. At the time of Independence, the then Nawab Hamidullah Khan wished to retain his state as an independent unit. Local folklores abound which suggest that the Nawab wanted a Pakistan – Bhopal state – Hyderabad state passage. Eventually, bowing to the public pressure and demonstrations, including those of Indian President to-be Shankar Dayal Sharma, the Nawab agreed to let Bhopal merge with the Indian Union on April 30^th 1949.

He and his daughter Abida Sultan, who would have acceded to the throne next (Bhopal state had a long tradition of female rulers) moved to Pakistan. Abida Sultan later served in Pakistan’s Foreign Service as did her son Shaharyar Khan. The latter was Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary as well as the head of Pakistan Cricket Board (PCB).

Indore was ruled by the Holkars since 1730s, who rose to power alongside the Peshwas in Pune. The last Maharaja of Indore Yashwant Rao Holkar (II) finds several unkind mentions in contemporary history. Lord Curzon at one point apparently called him “half mad and addicted to horrible vices”. Historians Patrick French in his book “Younghusband: The Last Great Imperial Adventurer” and Alex von Tunzelmann in her book “Indian Summer: The Secret History of the End of an Empire” assess that this estimate of Maharaja’s sanity was off by 100%.

Apparently the Maharaja was disposed to crazy acts like once ordering abduction of every man who wore a black coat or getting his bankers whipped. Lord Mountbatten had sent a group of neighboring Princes to talk the Maharaja into joining the Union. The Maharaja snubbed the group and kept them waiting without meeting them. Lord Wavell then called him “a poor creature, physically and morally”. Finally the diplomatic actions bore fruit, with the Maharaja signing the covenant of accession in April 1948.

2. Dr. Katju and the Indo-Chinese War

Dr. Kailash Nath Katju served as the Chief Minister of MP between January 1957 and March 1962. He was a Congress stalwart, with strong legal credentials, which included participation in high profile cases like the Meerut Railway Conspiracy Case and INA Red Fort court marshals. He had served in several legislative roles starting right from 1937 when Indian provinces got more autonomy. This included being India’s Home Minister in 1951.

However, there was a brief 2 year period in his illustrious track record, which caused lasting damage on how India’s preparedness against the Chinese threat evolved. This was when he became the Defense Minister of India between 1955 and 1957. At that time, he was the senior most leader in Congress and though he had no links with Defense, Pandit Nehru went with the tenured choice.

In his seminal book on the 1962 war, Brigadier John Dalvi had this to say on Dr. Katju:

‘..tired and deaf when he assumed office. It was grossly unfair to expect him to master the intricacies of the Higher Direction of War… there was no valid reason for shifting him to Defense purely on the grounds of seniority… It was an injustice to an otherwise able man and fatal to the Armed Forces, at a time when rigorous lobbying was called for to match Pakistan and forestall China. Dr Katju did nothing that was wrong but he also did nothing that was right’.

Not a lot has been written about the corrosive impact of policy and administration between 1955 and 1962 on the China War. Coming from the man whose unit took the first Chinese bullet on the border, this is scathing commentary. Brigadier Dalvi ends his analysis with this:

‘.. he was the typical Congressman. Although he had reaped a rich harvest for his “sacrifices” in the Independence movement, he insisted on “serving the people” to the bitter end’.

3. The Warren Anderson Flight

Come December, it will be 30 years since the catastrophic Bhopal gas leak occurred. The worst industrial disaster in India, which left 500,000 people exposed to the deadly methyl isocynate gas, continues to haunt the kin of the dead and the survivors alike to date. Warren Anderson, then CEO of the company Union Carbide operated the ill-fated plant, died last month in Florida – untried and unpunished for the disaster.

Part of the blame for Anderson’s safe flight from Bhopal, 4 days after the tragedy, will reside with the then Chief Minister Arjun Singh. Singh, just like Dr Katju, was consistently rewarded for his seniority in the Congress party – at the state level and then later at the national level. Anderson was released on a personal bail bond after Arjun Singh ordered the local authorities to let him go after a mysterious phone call from Delhi. Nothing is known about the whereabouts of the call – and Singh himself blamed a wrong person in his autobiography, incorrectly and potentially maliciously trying to trace the issue to PV Narasimha Rao, Congress’ favorite whipping candidate.

Anderson was dropped from the Union Carbide guest house to the Bhopal airport in a state government vehicle. This picture shows the travesty of justice inflicted upon by the governments of the day – state and the center – on its own people.

4. Mandal and Mandir – The Saffron Swing

A period of three years from 1988 to 1991 brought about a near permanent swing to the BJP in the MP politics. Though Congress did rule the state after 1991, the dominant story of the state politics has been the saffron alignment. While the media covers a lot about BJP’s rise in Gujarat and the decline until May 2014 in Uttar Pradesh, if there is one state which BJP has more or less made its own, it is MP.

The change started with the Mandal Commission agitations and the series of self immolations in North India. Gwalior was one city, which saw a series of protests and self immolations after Rajeev Goswami died in Delhi. The locals will have heart wrenching stories to tell about this phase, although the Delhi centricity of the mainstream reporting largely ignored the Gwalior demonstrations.

Before the Mandal Commission protests, the Rajiv Gandhi government had passed The Muslim Women (Protection of Rights on Divorce) Act 1986, which achieved exactly the opposite of what the name suggested. This act came in the wake of the divorce case of Shah Bano, an Indore lady. The passage of the act caused widespread furor, including a local debate on Uniform Civil Code and outrage against the central government bowing to the pressure of clergy. Coming soon after the Bhopal tragedy, the case evolved during the Chief Minister-ship of Arjun Singh and Motilal Vora and caused lasting damage to the Congress prospects in the state.

Channeling the public anger alongside the Mandir movement, BJP gained currency in the Lok Sabha polls in 1989. Since then, the party has dominated the national polls term after term. There have been blips like the ones in 1991 and 2009, where Congress managed to fight back. But in general, BJP’s grip on the state is very tight. Bhind, Damoh, Vidisha, Bhopal and Indore have been with BJP since 1989 at a stretch. Others like Dewas, Ujjain and Mandsaur only swung once in 2009.

Western MP is the original political home for BJP in India, much before Gujarat dominance started – a largely undocumented story. Below figure shows the performance of the BJP and the Congress in Lok Sabha polls since 1989 in MP.

5. The Economic March

Shivraj Singh Chouhan took over as the Chief Minister of MP in 2005. His two terms saw a slew of policy changes and fast track implementation, thrust on agriculture and focus on developing small enterprises within the state.

In 2006, only UP and Bihar had lower per capita income than MP. Only five states had per capita income less than ₹20,000. Jharkhand and Manipur were marginally ahead of MP. Over the next 7 years, the MP per capita income moved from ₹17,257 to ₹44,989, a 2.6 times jump. While Bihar remains the poorest Indian state despite clocking high YoY growth, UP, Jharkhand, Assam and Manipur are now behind MP and MP is also closing in on Odisha and Chhatisgarh.

Though MP still remains in a catch up mode on various social indicators, the per capita income growth in percentage terms in the Chouhan era has been comparable to that in prosperous states like Punjab, Andhra, and Tamil Nadu.

After Rajasthan, MP seems all set to shed the BIMARU tag over the next 5 years. If CM Chouhan manages yet another victory for the BJP in the 2018 assembly elections and the party retains power in Delhi in 2019, a larger role for him at the Center may well be possible. After a series of MP Congress stalwarts who failed to deliver in Delhi, this may be a fitting change from the chequered history.

Given the current political affiliations, MP is well placed for fast economic growth, which hopefully will show up on the lagging social indicators too. That has to be the priority for the Chouhan government. The opportunity is huge, and one hopes that the state will come to the fore in maneuvering and shaping national politics, policies and priorities.