Demonstration at Jantar Mantar for separate Mithila state

    New Delhi, Aug 21 (PTI) A students union organised a demonstration here on Sunday to press for a separate Mithila state carved out of Bihar, claiming the socially and culturally rich region in the north of the state has been "neglected" by successive governments.
    The Mithila Students Union (MSU) programme at the Jantar Mantar was attended by hundreds of its activists, some of whom had come from Bihar, while some had gathered at the venue from different parts of Delhi.
    "The Mithila region in north Bihar is extremely backward," said MSU founder president Anup Maithil, who changed his second name from Chaudhary to stress the importance he attaches to the cause.
    "If Gujarat, which is home to six crore people, can have an Indian Institute of Technology, a National Institute of Technology, IIIT, a central university, why not Mithila which also has six crore population," he told the gathering in Maithili.
    He also said the MSU will launch a door-to-door awareness campaign later this year, and urged people to donate money for the exercise.
    Anup said the outfit wants to pressure the central government in the run up to the 2024 Lok Sabha polls and the Bihar government before the 2025 state elections.
    "No government has done anything for the development of the Mithila region," he alleged.
    Neeraj Bhardwaj (22), who had come from Darbhanga to attend the demonstration, said he joined the protest as he felt governments in the state have not paid enough attention to the development of the region.
    "If they had why is that the Mithila region is ravaged by floods year after year? The only hospital the region has is the Darbhanga Medical College and Hospital, and even that gets submerged after average rains," he said.
    "Bihar is our fake and false identity. We are not Biharis, we are Maithil," he said.
    Ravi Ranjan (31), who is from Bihar and who works at the Delhi airport, said the poor in the region are unable to end their plight because they are hit by floods every year.
    "And what does the government do? It pays just Rs 6,000 for every damaged house," he said.
    The gathering also raised slogans in support of a separate Mithila state. PTI TIR IJT

(This story has not been edited by THE WEEK and is auto-generated from PTI)