By – Dr. Samrendra Pathak (Senior Journalist)
Prime Minister Narendra Modi will visit Mithila on 24th April. For this, preparations are going on in full swing to make the meeting at Videshwar Sthan a success. All the parties of the NDA alliance are engaged in making this visit of the Prime Minister a success. Especially there is a lot of enthusiasm among the workers of BJP. Along with this, crores of Mithila residents have many expectations.
This year there is Bihar assembly election. It is a question of prestige for the NDA alliance, because the Mahagathbandhan is also engaged in full swing. Both the alliances have their eyes on Mithila region because Mithila has 108 assembly constituencies and the history here is that the party voted for gets around 100 seats and the government is formed by that party.
On the other hand, the problem of the grand alliance is that if it does not get power this time, then it will be away from power for a long time due to BJP coming to power. Atal Bihari Vajpayee’s government at the center had included the Mahasetu on the Kosi river in Mithila and Maithili language in the eighth schedule and in the year 2005, NDA government was formed under the leadership of Nitish Kumar, ending the 15-year-old Lalu-Rabri government. NDA got the maximum number of seats from Mithila in this election.
Neglecting Mithila: Tragedy of people’s movement
Ruined industry and migration:- People of Mithila are constantly troubled by their neglect. People here have to face famine and drought every year. Due to the collapse of industries, a serious problem of migration has arisen in the last three decades. Sugar mills of Sakri, Rayam and Lohat are closed. The same is the condition of Ashok Paper Mill and Thakur Paper Mill. The jute mill of Katihar, milk mills of Saharsa and Madhepur have been closed for four decades. The silk industry of Bhagalpur and Pandal and Madhubani Khadi are losing their existence due to government neglect. Due to the end of handloom industry, the source of income of minorities has ended.
The closure of these industrial units has not only increased unemployment in Mithila, but along with migration, agriculture has also been adversely affected. Farmers have almost stopped cultivating sugarcane and jute. Rearing of dairy animals has also almost ended. Due to lack of market and resources, fish imported from Andhra Pradesh is being sold in large quantities in the markets of Mithila, which is world famous for fish industry. Recently, the Makhana industry was also made controversial in the name of tag. This has had a deep impact on the people associated with the Makhana industry.
Flood problem in Mithila: This problem has been there in Mithila since before independence. Kosi, Kamla, Gandak, Budhi Gandak and other tributary rivers of the Adhawaara group wreak havoc in Mithila every year. Dams were built on these rivers to solve this problem, but since the water source of these rivers is Nepal, people have to live at its mercy. Nepal releases water as per its convenience and creates a situation of severe flood in Mithila.
The history of efforts made to find a solution to the problem of flood in Mithila is also very old. Many commissions were formed and many efforts were made to solve the problem of flood since the British rule, but the only thing that came to the fore was that a high dam should be built in Nepal to solve the flood problem of Mithila. But even after 75 years of independence, the central governments have not been able to find a permanent solution to this problem by talking to Nepal.
Mithila stuck between aviation service and AIIMS:- These days there is a competition among the leaders that we started aviation service from Darbhanga. We took initiative to build AIIMS, but they do not know that Darbhanga had aviation service before independence. It is a different matter that in those days this facility was limited to big people and royal families. Similarly, DMCH was built in Nehru-Indira era with the courtesy of Pt. Hari Nath Mishra, a strong leader of Congress and Health Minister at the center. Books written by many doctors there are still taught to the students of AIIMS.
Demand for Mithila state:- Actually, the history of separate Mithila state has been there till before independence. Darbhanga royal family was known as Mithila Naresh, but after independence the existence of Mithila state ended completely. In the presence of Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru at the Congress session of Ramgarh, the then Mithila Kesari Late Janaki Nandan Singh raised the demand for a separate Mithila state, but this demand was cleverly rejected. Since then, the demand for a separate Mithila state is being continuously raised, but due to political reasons, this demand has not been fulfilled till now.