Below are some posters that emerged from the Uttarakhand movement for statehood:
THE EARTH Will attain Uttarakhand, struggling, confronting, forcing. The struggle will continue The poster was published for the three-year commemoration of the Muzaffarnagar Incident in which dozens of unarmed demonstrators were killed and dozens of women activists raped or molested by the police. Justice has been slow in coming as the CBI (Central Bureau of Intelligence, the Indian version of the FBI) has dragged its feet in charging the magistrates and police officers involved in giving the orders to shoot and finish off the protesters.
This poster illustrates a striking poem:
Uttarakhand : A song of the people
Will attain Uttarakhand, swearing by her martyrs.
Look and see, the voices rising from mountain villages
Look and see, the fists of women becoming torch-bearers
Will attain Uttarakhand, coming forward hand in hand.
The young are losing land and village
Coming down in search of work
Will attain Uttarakhand, finding the answers.
The hot lava flows through the veins of hills
Will decide what is wrong and what is right
Will attain Uttarakhand, changing people's votes.
The sacred Ganga is watching us once again
The Badri Kedar calling us once again
Will attain Uttarakhand, swearing by the Panch Prayag.
New stories are weaved with the tri-colored flag
The sounds of Hansulies and Drantiyas are being heard
Will attain Uttarakhand, thinking carefully.
Why is development so distant from villages
Why so near the rivers but so far from the waters
Will attain Uttarakhand, changing the false numbers and lies.
Pay attention, one day a new dawn will take birth
Pay attention, the painful night will be gone
Will attain Uttarakhand, waving winning banners.
This poster requests the solidarity of every Indian in several languages. Put out by the Uttarakhand Sanskritic Morcha, the poster draws on several popular graphic elements including the raised fist for revolution and the shaking hands for solidarity and cooperation. The top symbol of a fist holding up a horn is the JSM's emblem.
This poster proclaims:
until Uttarakhand is achieved
In the autumn months of 1994, agitation for separate statehood for Uttarakhand reached a fever pitch, eliciting a deadly response from the State authorities at Khatima, Mussoorie, Dehra Dun, and finally, Muzaffarnagar, where activists were enroute to New Delhi to voice their grievances. There, ironically in the early hours of the 125th anniversary of Mahatma Gandhi's birthday (October 2), the provincial armed constabulatory (PAC) had prepared a brutal reception.
The poster was put out by the Uttarakhand Sanyukta Sangarsh Samiti (Uttarakhand Joint-Action Committee), the non-partisan umbrella group for the Uttarakhand movement. Underneath the picture of Uttarakhand in chains, are listed various organizations protesting the delay in the formation of Uttarakhand promised both by the BJP-led administration and its predecessor the United Front government. Another major concern was the issues of Haridwar and Udham Singh Nagar districts, both of which are under pressure to be dropped from the new state. The campaign brought the entire region to a close in a five-day bandh and was hugely successful. Women also took out processions demanding justice for the Muzaffarnagar rapes.
Updated February 2004
