Bombay State was a large

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, with a total of 36 entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into districts and smaller administrative divisions. History Pre-indepen ...

created at the time of

India's Independence The Indian independence movement was a series of historic events with the ultimate aim of ending British rule in India. It lasted from 1857 to 1947. The first nationalistic revolutionary movement for Indian independence emerged from Bengal. ...

, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Presidency (roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of Maharashtra, excluding South Maharashtra and

Vidarbha 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 ...

) was merged with the princely states of Baroda, Western India and Gujarat (the present-day Indian 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 ...

) and the Deccan States (which included parts of the present-day Indian states of Maharashtra 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 ...

). On 1 November 1956, Bombay State was re-organized under the States Reorganisation Act on linguistic lines, absorbing various territories including the Saurashtra and Kutch States, which ceased to exist. On 1 May 1960, Bombay State was dissolved and split on linguistic lines into the two states of

, with

Gujarati Gujarati may refer to: * something of, from, or related to Gujarat, a state of India * Gujarati people, the major ethnic group of Gujarat * Gujarati language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by them * Gujarati languages, the Western Indo-Aryan sub ...

speaking

population Population typically refers to the number of people in a single area, whether it be a city or town, region, country, continent, or the world. Governments typically quantify the size of the resident population within their jurisdiction using a ...

and Maharashtra, with

Marathi Marathi may refer to: *Marathi people, an Indo-Aryan ethnolinguistic group of Maharashtra, India *Marathi language, the Indo-Aryan language spoken by the Marathi people *Palaiosouda, also known as Marathi, a small island in Greece See also * * ...

speaking

History

During the

British Raj The British Raj (; from Hindi ''rāj'': kingdom, realm, state, or empire) was the rule of the British Crown on the Indian subcontinent; * * it is also called Crown rule in India, * * * * or Direct rule in India, * Quote: "Mill, who was him ...

, portions of the western coast of India under direct British rule were part of the Bombay Presidency. In 1937, the Bombay Presidency became a province of

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance on the Indian subcontinent. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one ...

. After India gained independence in 1947, Bombay Presidency became part of India, and Sind province became part of

Pakistan Pakistan ( ur, ), officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan ( ur, , label=none), is a country in South Asia. It is the world's fifth-most populous country, with a population of almost 243 million people, and has the world's second-lar ...

. The territory retained by India was restructured into Bombay State. It included princely states such as

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. It is the administrative headquarter of the Kolhapur district. In, around 2 C.E. Kolapur's name was 'Kuntal'. Kolhapur is ...

in Deccan, and

Baroda Vadodara (), also known as Baroda, is the second largest city in the Indian state of Gujarat. It serves as the administrative headquarters of the Vadodara district and is situated on the banks of the Vishwamitri River, from the state capital ...

and the Dangs in Gujarat, which had been under the political influence of the former Bombay Presidency.

Expansion of the state

As a result of the States Reorganisation Act on 1 November 1956, the

Kannada Kannada (; ಕನ್ನಡ, ), originally romanised Canarese, is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly by the people of Karnataka in southwestern India, with minorities in all neighbouring states. It has around 47 million native s ...

-speaking districts of Belgaum (except Chandgad taluka), Bijapur,

Dharwar 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

North Canara Uttara Kannada is a district in the Indian state of Karnataka. Uttara Kannada District is a major coastal district of Karnataka, and currently holding the title of the largest district in Karnataka. It is bordered by the state of Goa and Bela ...

were transferred from Bombay State to

Mysore State Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the later India, Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's c ...

. but the State of Bombay was significantly enlarged, expanding eastward to incorporate the

-speaking

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 ...

region of Hyderabad State, the Marathi-speaking

region of southern

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (, ; meaning 'central province') is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal, and the largest city is Indore, with Jabalpur, Ujjain, Gwalior, Sagar, and Rewa being the other major cities. Madhya Pradesh is the seco ...

, and

-speaking Saurashtra and Kutch states. The Bombay state was being referred to by the local inhabitants as "Maha Dwibhashi Rajya", meaning, "the great bilingual state". In 1956, the States Reorganisation Committee, against the will of

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 ...

, recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra-Gujarat with Bombay as its capital, whereas in ''

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, constitutionally the House of the People, is the lower house of India's bicameral Parliament, with the upper house being the Rajya Sabha. Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by an adult universal suffrage and a first-p ...

'' discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. In the 1957 elections, the

Samyukta Maharashtra movement Samyukta Maharashtra Movement ( mr, संयुक्त महाराष्ट्र चळवळ), commonly known as the Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Centr ...

opposed these proposals, and insisted that Bombay be declared the capital of Maharashtra.

Dissolution of Bombay state

Bombay State was finally dissolved with the formation of Maharashtra and

states on 1 May 1960. Following protests of

Samyukta Maharashtra Movement Samyukta Maharashtra Movement ( mr, संयुक्त महाराष्ट्र चळवळ), commonly known as the Samiti, was an organisation in India that advocated for a separate Marathi-speaking state in Western India and Centr ...

, in which 107 people were killed by police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines.

-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat following Mahagujarat Movement. Maharashtra State with

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 was formed with the merger of

-speaking areas of Bombay State, eight districts from Central Provinces and Berar, five districts from Hyderabad State, and numerous princely states enclosed between them.

Chief ministers

Bombay State had three chief ministers after the independence of India: *

Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher (24 August 1888 – 8 March 1957) was an Indian politician who served as the prime minister of Bombay (1937 - 1939, 1946 - 1947) and the first chief minister (then called Premier) of Bombay State (1947 - 1952). He was a ...

was the first

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union terri ...

of Bombay (1946–1952) *

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 ...

(1952–1956) *

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 ...

(1956–1960)

Governors

Upon the split of Bombay State in 1960, the designation of the "Governor of Bombay" was renamed to the

Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor, however the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Ministers. Bhagat ...

. Sources: ''

'' and ''Greater Bombay District Gazetteer'' ;Graphical ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1948 till:1960 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:6 start:1948 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:PA value:blue legend: Appointed Legend = columns:2 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:100 Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:TNG PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:TNG from:1948 till:1952 color:PA text:" Raja Sir Maharaj Singh (1948–1952)" from:1952 till:1954 color:PA text:" Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai (1952–1954)" from:1955 till:1956 color:PA text:" Hare Krishna Mahtab (1955–1956)" from:1956 till:1960 color:PA text:" Sri Prakasa (1956–1960)"

References

{{Coord, 18, 58, 30, N, 72, 49, 33, E, display=title History of Gujarat (1947–present) History of Maharashtra (1947–present) 1960 disestablishments in India 1950 establishments in India Former states and territories of India