The Annamanada Case: A Hundred Years of Conflict over Rights and Territories in Kerala (original) (raw)
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Ever since the reorganisation of states in India in 1956, the Central government has reacted to the pressure for the creation of new states on a case-by-case basis, leading to the emergence of new states in fits and starts. But the resistance that is developing to the promise of new states like Telangana suggests that there is no guarantee that
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This article critically examines territorial strategies adopted by the Indian state to accommodate territorially concentrated minority groups in two very recent cases: the formation of Telangana (2014) and the Bodoland Territorial Council (BTC) (2003). We situate both cases within the broader context of linguistic state reorganization in India since the 1950s. We argue that while the formation of states on the basis of linguistic principle was necessary given the long history of demand for linguistic states in India, it is, as Telangana and BTC clearly bear out, not sufficient to accommodate minorities. This is especially the case when, inter alia, language is: (1) appropriated by the dominant group within a state (or states) as a vehicle to perpetuate political majoritarianism, (2) supplemented by weak power-sharing arrangement, and (3) occasioned by longstanding popular perceptions of historical injustices and relative deprivation.
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