Language, identity and geography: State reorganisation and the emergence of Himachal Pradesh

Abstract

Region formation in India has until now been understood through homogenising models of state formation. The reorganisation of various Indian states and the emergence of newer regions in the post-independence scenario have generally been seen through asserting regional aspirations and/or the question of language. The formation of Himachal Pradesh, however, presents a complex story. Markers of homogenous identity and language were missing in Himachal Pradesh. Further, despite apprehensions about the Akali demand for a Punjabi Suba, the central government systematically encouraged the formation of Himachal Pradesh as a separate hill state. In 1966, the hilly areas of Punjab and the Part-C state of Himachal were joined and reconstituted as Himachal Pradesh, though formal statehood continued to elude the region until 1971. Despite a complicated distribution of languages, Hindi was declared the state language of the new region. Territoriality, in this case, emerged as a result of region formation that was not shaped solely by linguistic or cultural considerations but by the imagination of geography and marginality. The process of region formation also centres various debates on development in the region, which remained a neglected periphery of the Punjab plains. This paper shall explore these varying intriguing processes of region formation in Himachal Pradesh.