After lawyers, CAs join Vidarbha statehood movement

NAGPUR: More support is pouring in for separate Vidarbha as many city-based organizations are joining the bandwagon. After Nagpur District Bar Association (DBA) unanimously passed a resolution for carving out a separate state of Vidarbha and fight for the cause, the Nagpur branch of Western India Regional Council (WIRC) of Institute of Chartered Accountants of India (ICAI) members too cleared a similar resolution in a voice vote on Friday.
"The branch feels need of separate state with Nagpur as capital for equitable economic growth of the region. The historical and political identity of the region should also be identified. We unanimously resolve to support the separate state," the resolution signed by Nagpur branch President Ashwini Agrawal and others stated.
The DBA under its president Sudeep Jaiswal had also organized a programme on ?Legal history of Vidarbha' on its premises where noted Vidarbha protagonist and senior lawyer Shreehari Aney was the guest speaker.
Many organizations like Vidarbha Joint Action Committee (VJAC), Forward Block and Vidarbha Economic Development Council (VEDC), were working for the cause since long. But it actually got the boost from early part of this year as many other new organizations also joining them in their unique ways just prior to the Lok Sabha polls. They included ? NGO Jan Manch, Vidarbha Connect, Freedom Vidarbha, Youth for Vidarbha, Vidarbha Taxpayers Association (VTA) and others.
"We're having substantial strength of over 2,000 members and 15,000 students in Nagpur itself. It was a unanimous decision among all members as we feel that economic and industrial growth is not possible without granting statehood to the region. We feel that it's the right time the age old demand for separate state should be fulfilled on the lines of Telangana," Agrawal told TOI.
The ICAI branch lined up the future programmes in this regard where they would be associating with the like minded organizations in creating awareness among the masses to join the movement. "Now the intellectual class, including professionals, is also joining this movement which would certainly create a difference," Agrawal said.