Thaindian News

Patna, Dec 12 (IANS) A group seeking a separate Mithila state for Maithili language speakers Saturday asked all the MPs and legislators from the region to come on a common platform to press for its creation.
“It is high time all MPs and legislators of the region join hands to show unity for creation of a separate state of Mithila,” Baidnath Choudhary Baiju, president of the Akhil Bhartiya Mithila Rajya Sangharsh Samiti, said.

The proposed state would consist of over a dozen districts spread over north Bihar, where Maithili is spoken.

Baiju told IANS over telephone Saturday that the “decisive time” has come to fight for the creation of a separate Mithila state by mobilising people from all walks of life.

“We have urged people’s representatives, including MPs and MLAs (legislators), social and cultural organisations and other bodies in Mithila to join hands to launch a campaign for the creation of Mithilanchal,” he said.

He said the people of the region will be forced to protest near the parliament in New Delhi later this month if the central government failed to initiate the process for creating a separate Mithila state.

“The population of the Mithila region is 40 million and it elects 22 Members of Parliament and 126 MLAs to the Bihar assembly. It is unfortunate that despite having such a huge area and population, a separate state is yet to be created,” Tarakant Jha, another leader of the campaign, said.

He claimed the population of Jharkhand, Chhattishgarh and Uttaranchal was less than that of the Mithila region.

“History suggests that Mithila was a separate state in ancient times. It was evident from the fact that Janak, the father-in-law of Lord Rama, was a king of Mithila,” he pointed out.

Since 2000, when Jharkhand was carved out of Bihar, the Maithili and Bhojpuri speaking people of the state have been demanding separate states for their communities.