From multiculturalism to sub-regionalism: Sambalpur in the state politics of Odisha

Conflicts may arise in multicultural societies due to minority groups demanding not only retention of their primordial identities, but also acceptance into the larger society. The growing regional disparities in India, arising out of language, religion, caste, tribe and socio-economic underdevelopment, have generated stress between the majority and minority groups. This has posed a new set of issues for multiculturalism, whose principal presumption is that conflicts emerge within societies primarily due to the minority groups feeling excluded in terms of benefitting less than the majority group from the overall process of socio-economic development. In the context of multiculturalism, the categories of majority and minority are related to issues of cultural discrimination and marginalization due to the kind of public endorsement each receives as expressed in national public culture. It is in this context that the paper tries to draw a link between multiculturalism and sub-regionalism and its resultant impact on the state politics of Odisha. An attempt has also been made in this paper to examine how far and to what extent sub-regionalism, despite the existence of many other multicultural elements, pose a grave challenge to the state politics of Odisha, along with some suggestive measures and policies.