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 Sanyukta
Maharashtra 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 parties the Communist Party, the
Praja Samajwadi Party, the Peasants and Workers Party as also the
Republican Party.


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 term Sanyukta 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
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 reaction
against 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 Nehru
and 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.
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 of Keshavrao 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 and
huge 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.
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 which Ahilya Rangnekar,
Tara Reddy, Pramila Dandavate were arrested. There was lathi charge
everywhere 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 his
life. 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
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
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.
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







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
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 to
reconsider 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 divisions Gujarat, 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-state
formula.
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.
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.


***




History assignment
Aishwarya Kothare
F.Y.B.A-A
Roll no.78



Sanyukta Maharashtra
Movement