Boiling Uttarakhand!

Unrest in Uttarakhand may be triggered by Ankita Bhandari's murder but it is culmination of longstanding outrage against rampant corruption in the state

- VK BAHUGUNA

The people of Uttarakhand are mostly peace-loving nationalist. They have shown their competence in all spheres of life by occupying top positions in constitutional bodies, sports, administration and whatnot. Every 6th soldier of the Indian Army is from Uttarakhand. The state has also produced global leaders like late Sunder Lal Bahuguna in environmental conservation. However, ever since this state was carved out of Uttar Pradesh in 2001, it has always been in the vortex of political conflicts. A bunch of political leaders have blatantly misused their powers to loot and amass public money, and distribute with impunity the senior jobs to unqualified people including their own sons and daughters. Financial and political positions are also accorded to people of dubious characters.

At the same time, the people of Uttarakhand have been suffering silently from the collapse of transparent governance. Being a small state, it is not of much political importance in terms of government formation at the Centre, yet, it is a border state with strategic importance and cannot be ignored for long.

For the last few days, people of Uttarakhand have been on roads, burning and damaging vehicles, blocking traffic, carrying out candle marches and protesting all over the state. The trigger for this spontaneous mass protest was the brutal killing of Ankita Bhandari a 19-year-old promising girl who was working as a receptionist near Rishikesh in the resort of the son of a former state minister and BJP leader. She was murdered on September 18, 2022 by the resort owner and his friends - allegedly for refusing to entertain the guests in the resort. Her body was thrown in River Ganga in Rishikesh.