![Hutatma Chowk](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/1/11/Hutatma_Chowk.jpg)
Samyukta Maharashtra Movement ( mr, संयुक्त महाराष्ट्र चळवळ), commonly known as the Samiti, was an organisation in
India
India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...
that advocated for a separate
Marathi-speaking
state
State may refer to:
Arts, entertainment, and media Literature
* ''State Magazine'', a monthly magazine published by the U.S. Department of State
* ''The State'' (newspaper), a daily newspaper in Columbia, South Carolina, United States
* ''Our S ...
in
Western India
Western India is a loosely defined region of India consisting of its western part. The Ministry of Home Affairs in its Western Zonal Council Administrative division includes the states of Goa, Gujarat, and Maharashtra along with the Union ...
and
Central India from 1956 to 1960.
The Samiti demanded the creation of a new state from Marathi-speaking areas of the
State of Bombay, a Marathi state, with the city of
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
as its capital. The Samiti achieved its goal when the state of
Maharashtra was created as a Marathi linguistic state on 1 May 1960. Members continued to advocate for the inclusion of Marathi-speaking areas in northern
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
such as
Belgaum,
Karwar
Karwar is a seaside city, ''taluka'', and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India.
Karwar is a popular tourist destination and with a city urba ...
,
Dharwad
Dharwad (), also known as Dharwar, is a city located in the north western part of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is the headquarters of the Dharwad district of Karnataka and forms a contiguous urban area with the city of Hubballi. It was merge ...
and
Bidar
Bidar (/ biːd̪ər/) is a city in the north-eastern part of Karnataka state in India. It is the headquarters of Bidar district, which borders Maharashtra and Telangana. It is a rapidly urbanising city in the wider ''Bidar Metropolitan area ...
into Maharashtra, and the newly annexed state of
Goa and Damaon
Goa, Daman and Diu (, ) was a union territory of the Republic of India established in 1961 following the annexation of Portuguese India, with Maj Gen K P Candeth as its first Military Governor. The Goa portion of the territory was granted ful ...
until the 1967
Goa Opinion Poll
The 1967 Goa status referendum popularly known as the Goa Opinion Poll was a referendum held in newly annexed union territory of Goa and Damaon in India, on 16 January 1967, to deal with the Konkani language agitation and to decide the future ...
rejected merger with Maharashtra.
History
The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement organisation was founded on 6 February 1956, at Tilak Smarak Mandir in
Pune
Pune (; ; also known as Poona, ( the official name from 1818 until 1978) is one of the most important industrial and educational hubs of India, with an estimated population of 7.4 million As of 2021, Pune Metropolitan Region is the largest i ...
. The Samiti declared its Executive Council.
Shripad Amrit Dange
Shripad Amrut Dange (10 October 1899 – 22 May 1991) was an Indian Politician who was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the 20th century, Dange was arrested by the a ...
as the President. Dr. T. R.Naravane as Vice President and
S. M. Joshi as General Secretary were selected. Many of the Prominent activists of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti were leftists such as
Shreedhar Mahadev Joshi
Mahadev Joshi, also known as S.M. Joshi (1904 November 12-1989 April 1), was an Indian independence activist, a member of the Socialist (Samajwadi) Party, a Member of Parliament, and leader of Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti.
Biography
Born 12 No ...
,
Shripad Amrit Dange
Shripad Amrut Dange (10 October 1899 – 22 May 1991) was an Indian Politician who was a founding member of the Communist Party of India (CPI) and a stalwart of Indian trade union movement. During the 20th century, Dange was arrested by the a ...
,
Narayan Ganesh Gore
Narayan Ganesh Gore (Devanagari: नारायण गणेश गोरे) (1907–1 May 1993) was a socialist leader and Marathi writer from Maharashtra, India.
Early life
He was born in the town of Hindale in Konkan. He received his ...
, and
Uddhavrao Patil. Other leaders included Anna Bhau Sathe, Maina Gawankar, Walchand Kothari,
Pralhad Keshav Atre
Prahlad Keshav Atre () (13 August 1898 – 13 June 1969), popularly known as Āchārya Atre, was a prominent Marathi writer, poet, educationist, founder–editor of ''Maratha'' (a Marathi language newspaper), and above all, a noted orator.
Bio ...
,
Keshav Sitaram Thackeray
Keshav Sitaram Thackeray (17 September 1885 – 20 November 1973; born Keshav Sitaram Panvelkar, also known as Keshav Sitaram Thakre and Keshav Sitaram Dhodapkar, commonly known by his pen name Prabodhankar Thackeray), was an Indian social refor ...
,
Pandurang Mahadev Bapat
Pandurang Mahadev Bapat (12 November 1880 – 28 November 1967), popularly known as Senapati Bapat, was a figure in the Indian independence movement. He acquired the title of ''Senapati'', meaning ''commander'', as a consequence of his lea ...
, Bhausaheb Raut, and Amar Shaikh,
G. T. Madkholkar,
Madhu Dandavate
Madhu Dandavate (21 January 1924 – 12 November 2005) was an Indian physicist and socialist politician, who served as Minister of Railways in the Morarji Desai ministry, and as Minister of Finance in the V P Singh ministry.
Born in Ahmednagar ...
, Y. K. Souni. As a part of the campaign,
P. K. Atre used his Maratha newspaper to criticise Prime minister
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
,
Morarji Desai
Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian independence activist and politician who served as the 4th Prime Minister of India between 1977 to 1979 leading the government formed by the Janata Party. During his ...
(then chief minister of
Bombay state) and
S.K. Patil, the Mumbai Congress party politician who favored separation of Mumbai city from a linguistically reconstituted Maharashtra or Gujarat.
The Indian National Congress had pledged to introduce linguistic states prior to Independence.
However, after Independence,
Jawaharlal Nehru
Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru (; ; ; 14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat—
*
*
*
* and author who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20t ...
and
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel
Vallabhbhai Jhaverbhai Patel (; ; 31 October 1875 – 15 December 1950), commonly known as Sardar, was an Indian lawyer, influential political leader, barrister and statesman who served as the first Deputy Prime Minister and Home Minister of I ...
were adamantly opposed to linguistic states. They perceived linguistic states as a threat to the integrity of India. For the first time and perhaps the only time,
Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh
The Rashtriya Swayamsevak Sangh ( ; , , ) is an Indian right-wing, Hindu nationalist, paramilitary volunteer organisation. The RSS is the progenitor and leader of a large body of organisations called the Sangh Parivar (Hindi for "Sangh family ...
and its chief
Madhav Sadashiv Golwalkar supported Nehru and Patel against redrawing of the map along linguistic lines. The catalyst to the creation of a States Re-organization Commission was the fasting death of Telugu nationalist
Potti Sriramulu. In 1956, the SRC (States Re-organisation Committee) recommended creation of linguistic states of
Andhra Pradesh
Andhra Pradesh (, abbr. AP) is a state in the south-eastern coastal region of India. It is the seventh-largest state by area covering an area of and tenth-most populous state with 49,386,799 inhabitants. It is bordered by Telangana to the ...
,
Kerala
Kerala ( ; ) is a state on the Malabar Coast of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, following the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, by combining Malayalam-speaking regions of the erstwhile regions of Cochin, Malabar, South ...
and
Karnataka
Karnataka (; ISO: , , also known as Karunāḍu) is a state in the southwestern region of India. It was formed on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act. Originally known as Mysore State , it was renamed ''Karnat ...
but recommended a bi-lingual state for Maharashtra-Gujarat, with Bombay as its capital but Vidarbha outside Maharashtra. Further, they recommended the creation of
Vidharba
Vidarbha (Pronunciation: id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Ber ...
state to unite the Marathi-speaking people of former
Hyderabad state with Marathi-speaking areas of
Central Provinces and Berar state. On 21 November 1955, demonstrators were fired upon by the police at
Flora Fountain
Flora Fountain is a Fountain located at the Hutatma Chowk is an ornamentally sculpted architectural heritage monument located at the southern end of the historic Dadabhai Naoroji Road, at the Fort business district in the heart of South Mum ...
in the capital city of
Bombay
Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...
. Flora Fountain was subsequently renamed
Hutatma Chowk
Hutatma Chowk ("Martyrs' Square, (Officially, Hutatma Smarak Chowk) ("Martyrs Memorial Square"), is a square in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The square hosts Flora Fountain and was known by that name until 1961 when it was officially rena ...
or "Martyr's Crossroad" in their memory. It is estimated that in a total of 106 people were shot by security forces during the period of agitation and at different places. Morarji Desai, who was the then chief minister of Bombay State was later removed and replaced by
Yashwantrao Chavan
Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (Marathi pronunciation: əʃʋənt̪ɾaːʋ t͡səʋʱaːɳ 12 March 1913 – 25 November 1984) was an Indian politician. He served as the last Chief Minister of Bombay State and the first of Maharashtra after ...
as a result of criticism related to the 21 November incident. Nehru's speech dissenting with the SRC led
C. D. Deshmukh, the then Finance Minister of the Nehru Cabinet to resign his post in January 1956.
This led to the creation of the predecessor movement Sanyukta Maharashtra Parishad, inaugurated on 1 November 1956, causing a great political stir and, under the leadership of
Keshavrao Jedhe, a whole party meeting was held in Pune and Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti was founded on 6 February 1956. In the second general election of 1957, the Samiti defeated the stalwarts of Congress by securing 101 seats out of 133, including 12 from Bombay. The Congress party could form a government only with the support of
Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth ...
,
Marathwada
Marathwada () is a proposed state and geographical region of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It was formed during the Nizam's rule and was part of the then Hyderabad State. The region coincides with the Aurangabad division of Maharashtra. I ...
and
Vidharba
Vidarbha (Pronunciation: id̪əɾbʱə is a geographical region in the east of the Indian state of Maharashtra and a proposed state of central India, comprising the state's Amravati and Nagpur divisions. Amravati Division's former name is Ber ...
.
The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti achieved its goal on 1 May 1960, when the State of Bombay was partitioned into the Marathi-speaking State of
Maharashtra and the Gujarati-speaking
State of Gujarat
Gujarat (, ) is a state along the western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the fifth-largest Indian state by area, covering some ; and the ninth- ...
. However
Goa
Goa () is a state on the southwestern coast of India within the Konkan region, geographically separated from the Deccan highlands by the Western Ghats. It is located between the Indian states of Maharashtra to the north and Karnataka to the ...
(then a Portuguese colony),
Belgaum,
Karwar
Karwar is a seaside city, ''taluka'', and administrative headquarters of Uttara Kannada district lying at the mouth of the Kali river on the Kanara coast of Karnataka state, India.
Karwar is a popular tourist destination and with a city urba ...
and adjoining areas, which were also part of the Maharashtra envisaged by the Samiti, were not included in Maharashtra state. Prominent leaders of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti decided to quit the organization after 1 May 1960, but the then chairman of the Samiti, Bhai Uddhavrao Patil, continued his fight for the 862 Marathi-speaking villages of Karnataka that were excluded in 1960.
See also
*
Mahagujarat Movement
*
Hutatma Chowk
Hutatma Chowk ("Martyrs' Square, (Officially, Hutatma Smarak Chowk) ("Martyrs Memorial Square"), is a square in South Mumbai, Maharashtra, India. The square hosts Flora Fountain and was known by that name until 1961 when it was officially rena ...
*
States Reorganisation Act
*
Chronology of statehood of Maharashtra
Jan 28, 1940: The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti, samyukta mahasabha organization is formed in Bombay (now Mumbai) to pursue the resolution passed at the literary meet.
1940-45: The demand of Maharashtra was postponed due to World War and Quit India ...
References
External links
Samyukta Maharashtra movementFounding of the Samiti* 'Zalach Pahije!' by P.K. Atre
{{Marathi language topics
History of Maharashtra (1947–present)
Reorganisation of Indian states
1956 in India
Protests in India