Mahagujarat

movement

Mahagujarat movement, known as Mahagujarat Andolan locally, was a political movement demanding the creation
of the state of Gujarat for Gujarati-speaking people from the bilingual Bombay state of India in 1956. It succeeded in
the formation of Gujarat, on 1 May 1960.[1]
 Mahagujarat movement

Rally supporting movement

Date 8 August 1956 - 1 May 1960

Location Bombay state, India

Goals The creation of the separate state of Gujarat for Gujarati-

Methods Protest march, Street protest, riot, hunger strike, strike

Resulted in formation of Gujarat and Maharashtra states on 1 May 1960

Parties to the civil conflict

Mahagujarat Janata Parishad Indian National Congress

Lead figures

Indulal Yagnik Morarji Desai

Etymology

The term Mahagujarat includes all Gujarati speaking area including mainland Gujarat and peninsulas of Saurashtra
and Kutch.[2][3] Writer-politician Kanaiyalal Munshi had coined the term Mahagujarat at the Karachi meet of Gujarati
Sahitya Parishad in 1937.[4][5]
Background

Bombay Presidency in 1909, northern portion

Bombay Presidency in 1909, southern portion

Bombay State, 1956-1960

During British rule in India, sections of the western coast of India were the part of the Bombay Presidency. In 1937,
Bombay Presidency was included as a province of British India.[6][7]
After independence of India in 1947, the demand
for linguistic states came up. On 17 June 1948, Rajendra Prasad set up the Linguistic Provinces Commission to
recommend whether or not the states should be reorganized on a linguistic basis. The commission included S. K.
Dhar (retired Judge of the Allahabad High Court), J. N. Lal (lawyer) and Panna Lall (retired Indian Civil Service officer),
and so it was called Dhar commission. In its 10 December 1948 report, the Commission recommended that "the
formation of provinces on exclusively or even mainly linguistic considerations is not in the larger interests of the
Indian nation".[7][8]

The Mahagujarat conference was held in 1948 to include all Gujarati speaking people under one administration
which finally resulted in formation of Gujarat.[2][3]

According to the autobiography of Indulal Yagnik, Bombay state chief minister B. G. Kher and the then home minister
Morarji Desai visited Dang in May, 1949. B. G. Kher stated that tribal people of Dang spoke Marathi and focus should
be on that. Indulal Yagnik and others visited Dang to examine this. Gujarati Sabha also sent a committee for
examination and agitate on negligence by government.[1] The committee reported that Dang is more related to
Gujarat.[9]

By 1952, the demand for separate Telugu-majority Andhra State had started in Madras State. Potti Sreeramulu, one
of the activists demanding Andhra State, died on 16 December 1952 after undertaking a fast-unto-death.
Subsequently, Andhra State was formed in 1953. This sparked agitations all over the country demanding linguistic
states.[7][10]

In December 1953, Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru appointed the States Reorganisation Commission[7] (SRC) to
prepare report on the creation of linguistic states. The commission was headed by Justice Fazal Ali so it was called
Fazal Ali Commission. The commission reported in 1955 to reorganise states of India.

Agitation

Morarji Desai
SRC considered to form states on linguistic basis but recommended that Bombay state should stay as a bilingual
state. It was further enlarged by the addition of Saurashtra State and Kutch State, the Marathi-speaking districts of
Nagpur Division of Madhya Pradesh, and the Marathawada region of Hyderabad. The southernmost districts of
Bombay state were included in Mysore State. So it had Gujarati-speaking population in north and Marathi-speaking
population in southern parts.[7]

Both Gujarati and Marathi people opposed the SRC's recommendation and strongly demanded separate linguistic
states. The situation became complicated because both of them wanted to include Bombay city (now Mumbai) in
their own states due to its economic and cosmopolitan values. Jawaharlal Nehru also suggested to form three states;
Maharashtra, Gujarat and centrally governed city-state of Bombay to solve conflict.[7]

Protest broke out in Bombay and other Marathi-speaking districts later known as Samyukta Maharashtra Movement
demanding separate Marathi state.[7] Morarji Desai, then the Chief Minister of Bombay State, was against it. On 8
August 1956,[11] some college students of Ahmedabad went to local Congress House near Lal Darwaza to demand
separate state. Morarji Desai did not listen to them and police repression resulted in death of five to eight
students.[6][12] It triggered massive protests across the state. Indulal Yagnik came out of his retirement from politics[6]
and founded Mahagujarat Janata Parishad to guide movement. Many protesters including Indulal Yagnik and Dinkar
Mehta, Dhanvant Shroff were arrested and kept at Gaekwad Haveli in Ahmedabad for a few days and later
imprisoned in Sabarmati Central Jail for three and half months.[13] Protest also spread in other parts of the state
which forced Morarji Desai to go on week-long fast. People did not turn up to support him during fast and stayed in
home following self-imposed curfew, Janata Curfew. Just before the declaration of carving three states as Nehru
suggested, 180 members of Parliament suggested return to bilingual Bombay state together. There was conflict over
Mumbai and Dang which was solved through discussions. Gandhian activist Ghelubhai Nayak actively lobbied for
accession of Dang in Gujarat.[14][15][16] Mumbai went to Maharashtra and Dang went to Gujarat.[17] Mahagujarat seema
samiti leader was Purshottamdas Thakurdas.

Result

President Rajendra Prasad, Vice-President Sarvapalli Radhakrishnan and Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru finally
agreed upon the formation of two new lingual states after prolonged agitation. On 1 May 1960, two new states,
Gujarat and Maharashtra, were created.[3] Mahagujarat Janata Parishad was dissolved on success of movement.[18]
The first government was formed under Jivraj Mehta who become the first Chief Minister of Gujarat.[19]

Monuments
Shahid Smarak

Indulal Yagnik statue in a garden near Nehru bridge, Ahmedabad

Shahid Smarak or Khambhi (Martyr Monument) is erected near Lal Darwaja AMTS Bus Stop, Bhadra, Ahmedabad;
in memory of college students who went to local Congress House to demand separate state during movement
 and died in police firing. It has a statue of a young holding torch in hand. So it was called Khambhi Satyagrah
(Monument Movement) earlier.[12]

Statue of Indulal Yagnik was erected in a small garden at east end of Nehru Bridge, Ahmedabad and the garden is
named after him.[20]

Participants

Notable individuals who participated in the movement include:

Indulal Yagnik, the movement's leader[1][18]

Sanat Mehta[21]

Satyam Patel[22][23]

Dinkar Mehta[6]

Vidyagauri Nilkanth[6]

Sharda Mehta[6]

Ashok Bhatt[1]

Budhdhiben Dhuv[1][11][12]

Ravishankar Maharaj[1]

Brahmkumar Bhatt[1]

Prabodh Raval[1]

Harihar Khambholja[1][18]

Dinkar Amin[11][12]

Ramniklal Maniyar[13]

Ranjitrai Shastri[13]

Markand Shastri[13]

Jayanti Dalal

Popular culture

Several leaders associated with the movement were writers, poets and even film-makers. Maya, a novel by Indulal
Yagnik is set during movement. Jayanti Dalal, Yashwant Shukla, Vinodini Nilkanth, Ishwar Petlikar, Ushnas had also
used movement as their inspiration for literary works.[5] Midnight's Children, a classic by Salman Rushdie, which
won the Booker Prize has a backdrop of both the Mahagujarat movement as well as Samyukta Maharashtra
movement.[5]

See also

Indulal Yagnik

Navnirman Andolan

Samyukta Maharashtra Movement

Hutatma Chowk

References

Further reading

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Last edited 2 months ago by Jay8014