Mamta Kalia

intellectuals from uttarakhand who have
had an opportunity of travel in other
states of the country must have had
the experience of their identity and
peculiarities of character receiving
universal acceptance and also respect.
I cannot forget my experience in a village
in Gorakhpur where my link with
Uttarakhand made me a centre not only
of attraction but also of curiosity, respect
and consideration. I had the same
experience in Bengal which has great
attachment for Uttarakhand.
If you will visit other states of India
and try to study them deeply you will
find that, in its diversity, the country
has its unity and in its unity you will
also experience diversity. The same can
be said of Uttarakhand as well. I want
to look at regionalism from this very
comprehensive, broad-minded and
holistic angle. This is not only an
intellectual question but also a practical
one. Where do we want to take
Uttarakhand? Do we want to cut ourselves
off from India’s larger stream? Does our
future lie only in looking at our problems
in isolation? Are our problems different
or are they linked with those of the
country as a whole? All these questions
have relevance today. This is also the
major challenge before us whether we
want to make the entire India alive to
its responsibility towards Uttarakhand
or not. We have to tell the entire country
that Uttarakhand’s weakness is its own
weakness, it is not the weakness of
Uttarakhand alone. The leaders of India’s
36 :: April-June 2010
renaissance and its freedom struggle had
understood this basic truth. It was
Uttarakhand’s deep integration with India
that had brought many great thinkers
and sages and common people to it.
What was the attraction that brought
Shankaracharya here, brought
Vivekanand here, brought Mahatma
Gandhi, Rabindranath Tagore, Jawaharlal,
Uday Shankar, and scientist Bosi Sen
here? It was not only that the awakening
on the national plane caused a convulsion
in Uttarakhand, the awakening in
Uttarakhand also provided quiet strength
to the nation. The national movement
acquired a national character in the real
sense only when it made local problems
of land, forest, Coolie begar, folk culture
etc. a part of the national programme
and related this awakening to the people’s
life at the grass roots and their sources
of inspiration. In this way, the
achievements of the Indian renaissance,
its strength, also became the strength
of the people in Uttarakhand. Also its
weaknesses became our weaknesses.
Mahatama Gandhi had said: Know your
country correctly; understand your
people and go in their midst. Thus, for
the people of Uttarakhand this discovery
of India began with the discovery of
Uttarakhand itself. The same was the
inspiration behind the efforts to trace
the history of Kumayun and Garhwal
and to study the folk culture and the
language of the hills. Be it the agitation
for reform of the land system and the
end of coolie Begar or the control over