In Odisha, push for Koshal statehood picks up pace again

Last fortnight, Prasanna Acharya, the deputy leader of the opposition Biju Janata Dal party, demanded that Odisha make Kosali the state’s second language and campaign for it to be included in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution. This schedule lists the languages officially recognised by the Indian government.

Acharya’s remarks followed a declaration early in March by Jayanarayan Mishra, an MLA of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who embarrassed his party by declaring that it had been a “historical mistake” for the western Koshal region – where Kosali is spoken – to be incorporated into the state of Odisha.

“We have been exploited in every sphere … mining, agriculture, forest and service,” he said. “We have been denied our cultural rights. The integration of Koshal with Odisha was a historic blunder.”

These statements have drawn attention to the identity politics in the backward Koshal region and the demands that it be separated it from the coastal part of the state.

The campaign for a separate state is the result of regional disparities and political power being skewed towards residents of the coastal region, said Supreme Court lawyer and Koshal sympathiser Gyanadutta Chouhan.

In some districts of the inland region, more than 60% of residents live below the poverty line.

“The youth...