Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement

5/21/2018 Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement

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Maharashtra is a Marathi speaking state blessed with a coast and diverse

culture. Its capital is Mumbai which is the financial capital of India. But the

state of Maharashtra which we see today came did not into existence in an

easy or smooth manner. People had to struggle hard in order to integrate

and liberate parts of Maharashtra. This struggle is known as the SanyuktaMaharashtra Movement.

This movement was started to unite all Marathi speaking regions into one

state like Mumbai, Vidarbha, Marathwada, Belgaon, Karwar, Malwan and

other adjoining areas. It was a battle against the linguistic injustice caused

to the Marathi speaking population by then Congress governments at the

centre as well as the state. It was a very exceptional movement connected

to the identity of every Marathi speaking individual.

The Samyukta Maharashtra movement was not an ordinary movement. It

was fought extraordinarily for a period of almost 5 years. The impact of the

movement was so tremendous that the ruling party and the political leaders

were exposed. The movement was led by the Samyukta Maharashtra

Samiti, which comprised of four main partiesthe Communist Party, the

Praja Samajwadi Party, the Peasants and Workers Party as also the

Republican Party.


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In 1920, the bill for the formation of Linguistic Region was passed in

meeting organized by the congress party at Nagpur. The bill which was

proposed by Mahatma Gandhi himself was then passed. But the Britishers,

for their administration convenience, merged all the regions randomly

irrespective of regional languages. India, extending from Kashmir to

Kanyakumari is a country full of rich and varied heritage, holding people

speaking different languages and is a multitude of customs and traditions.

There is unity in diversity across the region. Therefore, on wide public

demand, it was decided to make amendments in the bill on linguistic

basis. But as soon as India got independence the investors lobby

dominated and the Congress ruling party remained far from the public

outcry. There was strong demand for the formation of Maharashtra state

based on language and inclusion of Mumbai, Goa, Belgaum, Karwar,

Parbhani, Nipani and Varhad. The denial of this demand gave rise to

Samyukta Maharashtra movement which lasted for almost 5 years and

became historical.

History of this movement can be traced back to 1920 when Lokmanya Tilak

highlighted the need to impart national education through mother tongue.

Aims and objectives of included Congress Democratic Party formation of

states along linguistic lines. In Nagpur session of 1921 Gandhiji proposed

the same.

In 1928 the Workers and Farmers Party made a presentation before the

Motilal Nehru Committee for reorganization of States and demanded a

separate State of Maharashtra. The Nehru Committee sanctioned the

demand. In Ahmednagar, a resolution was passed that a single State be

formed of all the regions where the Marathi language is spoken, and

named Sanyukta Maharashtra. The termSanyukta Maharashtra came to

be used for the first time in this Meet. Ramrao Deshmukh, the member of

C.P. and Berar Legislative Assembly, founded the Sanyukta Maharashtra

Sabha (United Maharashtra Assembly) in Mumbai. The Council for

Unification of Maharashtra was founded in Pune in 1941 under the


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leadership of Dr. Kedar. In the Belgaum Literary Meet on 13th May, 1946,

writer Madkholkar first made a demand for Sanyukta Maharashtra. The

Jalgaon Session of the Council for the Unification of Maharashtra upheld

the demand for Sanyukta Maharashtra including Mumbai.

As the freedom to India became imminent, a commission under the

chairmanship of Justice S.K. Dar was appointed by Dr. Rajendra Prasad to

judge the feasibility of reorganization of States along linguistic lines. Even

as the commission was working Mahatma Gandhi wrote in Harijanthat a

plan acceptable to all be prepared by Mumbai for reorganization of States.

Seventeen leaders signed an agreement before the Dar Commission that

came to be known as Akola Agreement.

In 1948 The Council for Unification of Maharashtra held its session in

Mumbai. Annabhau Sathe presented a programme Mumbai

Kunachi (Whom does Bombay belong to). Dr. Babasaheb Ambedkar gave

his recommendation to the Dar commission emphasizing Maharashtras

right over Mumbai.

On December 1948 the Dar Commission published its report in which it

refuted the right of Maharashtra over Mumbai. There was a strong reactionagainst the Dar Commission Report. So a JVP Committee consisting of

Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabh Bhai Patel and Pattabhi Seetaramayya was

formed in the Jaipur session of the Indian National Congress. Even the JVP

Committee opposed the idea of Maharashtra along with Mumbai.

After the report of this committee became public, Ramrao Deshmukh gave

up the demand for separate Berar and asked for the C. P. and Berar to be

amalgamated with Maharashtra. Nobody dared oppose Jawaharlal Nehruand Vallabh Bhai Patel. The Unified Maharashtra Movement was getting

moribund when Senapati Bapat came forward and gave it a new lease of

life. On 29th November 1949 Acharya Atre and R.D. Bhandare moved a

resolution in Mumbai Municipal Corporation for Sanyukta Maharashtra.


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The Congress Working Committee introduced Tri-region scheme. This Tri-

state scheme introduced the whole of Gujarati speaking from Gujarat state,

Mumbai city with 100 square miles and Maharashtra state including

Marathawada excluding Belgaum, Karwar etc. On 18th November 1955,

Chiefminister Morarji Desai was given the responsibility to pass the

scheme.

In 1956 under the leadership ofKeshavrao Jedhe,Samyukta Maharashtra

Samiti was formed (earlier Samyukta Maharashtra Parishad).Acharya

Atre,Prabodhankar Thackeray,Senapati Bapat,S.A. Dange and Shahir

AmarShaikh were active members of the samiti.

To oppose Tri-state scheme there was widespread demonstration andhuge crowd headed towards Flora Fountain. There was tight security with

barricades at Flora fountain to stop the crowd.There was lathi charge and

several tear- gas shells were released. The proceedings of Vidhan Sabha

were postponed to 21st November.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keshavrao_Jedhehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharya_Atrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharya_Atrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabodhankar_Thackerayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senapati_Bapathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.A._Dangehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/S.A._Dangehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Senapati_Bapathttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Prabodhankar_Thackerayhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharya_Atrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acharya_Atrehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keshavrao_Jedhe


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On 21st November strike was declared and nearly 4 lakh workers

participated in it. On every road there was strong security. Several groups

of people started heading towards Oval ground. Police blocked all the

roads of Fort area and University. The turnout of huge crowd exhibited the

tremendous unity between the workers and the common man in Mumbai.

In the first group, Senapati Bapat and Lalji Pendse were hurt badly in lathi

charge. Second group comprised of females in whichAhilya Rangnekar,

Tara Reddy,Pramila Dandavate were arrested. There was lathi chargeeverywhere yet the demonstrators moved further. Ultimately police fired at

crowd due to which 15 people died and 300 people were injured.

On the same day, Senapati Bapat addressed the public meeting. Shripad

Dange and S.M. Joshi too gave aggressive speeches. Nearly 4 to 6 lakhs

people attended the meeting.

While the agitation was on in Maharashtra, the demand for separate

Andhra State also gathered strength, for which Potti Ramalu laid down hislife. In 1952 the separate State of Andhra came into being. Pandit Nehru

appointed the Fazal Ali Commission to review the situation for reorganizing

States along linguistic lines. The Sanyukta Maharashtra Parishad (Council

for the sanyukta Maharashtra) made a presentation before the commission.

The commission recommended a bilingual State, a separate State of
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahilya_Rangnekarhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pramila_Dandavatehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pramila_Dandavatehttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ahilya_Rangnekar


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Vidharbha (Berar) and Mumbai State including entire Gujarati speaking

region and Marathwada. Morarji Desai, the then Chief Minister of Mumbai,

declared that Mumbai would not be unified with Maharashtra for the next

five thousand years P.V. Gadgil, the editor of

newspaper Lokmanya, resigned his membership of the Legislative

Assembly. The Bill could not be passed due to the strong public opinion

against it.

Morarji Desai in the begining of 1956 tried to crush the movement by

arresting all the leaders. On 16th January Prabodhankar Thakare, Nana

Patil, Lalji Pendse and others were arrested. Overall 350 people were

arrested. Mumbai was totally closed and silent. Ultimately, people took the

initiative and carried forward the movement. There was firing in Mumbai

and in Belgaum at some places in which 4 people died. During that time

Nehru declared on Akashwani that Mumbai be made a Union territory.

On the same day Pt. Nehru declared that Mumbai would remain under the

central government and proposed 2 linguistic States instead of 3 States:

Maharashtra including Vidharbha for marathi speakers and Gujarat

including Kutch and Saurashtra for Gujarati speakers. The public opinion

went against this decision. On 18th the movement became aggressive. All

workers, schools and colleges, banks and offices participated in the strike.

There were curfew orders everywhere. 7 people died in police firing in


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Pune, Nashik, Kolhapur, Belgaum and Nipani. During the period from 16 to

22nd January, 90 people died. Overall 106 people sacrificed their life,

including the 16 that died in November. Around 10,000 satyagrahis were

arrested.

Jayaprakash Narayan demanded Mumbai to be given to the Maharashtra

State. The Congress Party in Hyderabad Legislative Assembly also

endorsed this view. In the parliament Feroze Gandhi also recommended

Mumbai to be given to Maharashtra. C.D. Deshmukh, the famous

Economist and minister, resigned from the cabinet on the Mumbai issue.

Jawaharlal Nehru was going to attend the Congress Committee meeting in

June. At the airport he was received with black flags. In the meeting, he

declared that Mumbai will remain Union territory for 5 years. As a reaction

to this, people greeted him with black flag in a public speech at Chowpatty.

He addressed the demonstrators as Shameless and Disloyal. The crowd

got furious and police had to release tear gas. In the firing incident, one of

the activists Shri Ghadigaonkar died. Soon Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti

gathered with a huge crowd at Shivaji Park and pledged that 'Samyukta

Maharashtra should be formed along with Mumbai and the sacrifice of the

people won't go in vain'. In June 1956, Sanyukta Maharashtra Samiti was

formed in London, U.K.


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In August 1956, a suggestion was made in Lok Sabha, that a common

State including Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidharbha, Gujarat, Saurashtra,

Kutch and Mumbai be formed. This suggestion was immediately accepted

by the government. In October 1956, Morarji Desai went to the central

cabinet and Yashawantrao Chavan became the new Chief Minister.

Mumbai became the capital of this new State.

In order to oppose Indian National Congress on this issue, a new political

party, Sanyukta Maharashtra Vidhansabha Paksha came into being. The

party won majority in the Mumbai municipal corporation elections and

Acharya Donde became the mayor. In 1959 Indira Gandhi became the

president of Indian National Congress. She reviewed the situation in

Maharashtra and came to the conclusion that such a bilingual State is not

sustainable. She appointed a nine members committee to study the issue.

This committee recommended dismantling of the bilingual State and

creation of separate Gujarat state. Indira Gandhi accepted that Mumbai be

given to Maharashtra. The parliament passed a resolution on 1st May 1960

creating a separate State of Maharashtra consisting of twenty six districts

and two hundred and twenty nine talukas. Unfortunately Goa, Belgaum and

Karwar were separated.

In the memory of 106 sacrificed lives, Hutatma chouk smarak was built at

Flora Fountain.

Raj bhawan


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Chronology of statehood of Maharashtra (Timeline)

1906: Lokmanya Tilak conceptualizes the state of Maharashtra.

1919: Congress Democratic Party includes demand of state of Maharashtra

its manifesto

Oct 1, 1938: The legislative assembly of Central Province passes the

resolution to break away from bi-lingual Bombay presidency and form a

separate state of Vidarbha.

Oct 15, 1938: A Marathi literary meet, presided over by V. D. Savarkar,

passes a resolution for a separate state for Marathi speaking areas

including Vidharbha.

Jan 28, 1940: The Sanyukta Mahasabha organization is formed in

Bombay to pursue the resolution passed at the literary meet.

1940-45: The demand of Maharashtra takes back seat due to World War

and Quit India Movement.

May 12, 1946: A resolution of Sanyukta Maharashtra (Unified

Maharashtra) is passed at the literary meet in Belgaum, which is

presided over by GT Madkholkar.

Jul 28, 1946: The committee holds a conference, Maharashtra Ekikaran

Parishad, in Bombay, organized by SK Patil and presided by

ShankarraoDeo


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Dec 1946: People supporting the formation of state on linguistic lines

hold a meeting in New Delhi under leadership of Pattabhi Sitaramaiya.

April 13, 1947: The Akola pact is finalized between Shankarrao Deo and

MadhavAne

Jun 17, 1948: The Union government appoints a commission to be

headed by the president of the constitutional council, SK Dhar, to study

the formation of Maharashtra, Andhra Pradesh, Karnataka, and Kerala.

Dec 10, 1948: The Dhar commission submits its report opposing the

formation of states on linguistic lines, saying that such move will be

against national interest.

Dec 1948: The Congress accepts the principle of the formation of the

states on linguistic lines at its Jaipur conclave. A committee comprising

Pittabhi Sitaramiya, Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhai Patel is formed toreconsider this issue.

Oct 1953: The State of Andhra Pradesh is formed.

Nov 4, 1953: Shankarrao Deo writes Nehru and demands formation of

Samyukta Maharashtra.

Dec 29, 1953: Union government constitutes the State Reformation

Board under Fazal Ali.

Aug 1954: Fazal Ali files report after touring Nagpur, Chanda, Akola,

Amravati, Pune, and then Bombay Oct 10, 1955: Fazal Alis report is made public. The report suggests

formation of two states, Bombay and Vidharbha. Ali proposes Bombay

with two divisionsGujarat, including Kutch and Saurashtra, and

Maharashtra, including Marathwada.

Oct 19, 1955: Nehru suggests formation of three states: Samyukta

Maharashtra, including Vidharba and Marathwada; Maha Gujarat,

including Kutch and Saurashtra and Bombay

Nov 8, 1955: Congress working committee accepts Nehrus tri-stateformula.

Nov 18, 1955: The parties observe the strike in Bombay.

Nov 20, 1955: Morarji Desai and SK Patil hold rally at Girgaon Chowpatty

challenging the supporters of Samyukta Maharashtra.


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Nov 21, 1955: The parties take a morcha to the state legislature, which

the police try to stop. Fifteen people die and 200 are injured as the police

open fire on the morcha at Flora Fountain

Nov 1955: Non-Congress political parties form the Samyukta

Maharashtra Samiti in Pune.

Dec 1, 1955: Yashwantrao Chavan states that if he has to make a choice

between Samyukta Maharashtra and Nehru, he will choose Nehru.

Jan 16, 1956: Violent agitations follow Nehrus announcement of making

Bombay a union territory.

Jan 22, 1956: Union minister C D Deshmukh resigns from the Nehrus

cabinet and alleges that Nehru nurtures ill-will towards Maharashtra.

Jun 3, 1956: Nehru declares Bombay a Union territory for five years, but

refuses to make the city capital of Maharashtra.

Aug 10, 1956: LokSabha passes a resolution for bigger bilingual state of

Bombay.

Nov 1956: Samayukta Maharashtra Samiti starts satyagraha

Mar 28, 1960: Proposal of division of bigger bilingual state of Bombay is

put up in Loksabha.

April 21, 1960: Loksabha gives its approval for a divided bigger bilingual

state of Bombay.

May 1, 1960: Maharashtra is formed with Bombay as its capital.

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History assignment

Aishwarya Kothare

F.Y.B.A-A

Roll no.78

Sanyukta Maharashtra

Movement

Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement

Documents

Transcript of Sanyukta Maharashtra Movement