Explained: How Gujarat, Maharashtra came into being

indianexpress.com/article/explained/gujarat-maharashtra-foundation-day-5705120

May 1, 2019

The states of Gujarat and Maharashtra are celebrating their Foundation Day today, the
anniversary of their creation 59 years ago in 1960. Prime Minister Narendra Modi posted
on Twitter his greetings to the people of Maharashtra on the state’s Foundation Day, and
his best wishes to the people of Gujarat on Gujarat Diwas.

What were the circumstances of the creation of Gujarat,

Maharashtra?
With the passage of the Indian Independence Act, 1947, Britain’s paramountcy lapsed,
and Indian states regained the position they had prior to the assumption of suzerainty by
the Crown. Of the more than 550 states situated within the geographical boundaries of the
Dominion of India, all but a handful had acceeded to India before the “appointed day”,
and the efforts of Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel ensured the rest, too, acceeded subsequently.

These states were merged into provinces that were geographically contiguous to them, or
converted into centrally administered areas, or consolidated into one of five Unions.

The First Schedule in the 1949 Constitution recognised States in Parts A, B, and C, and
Territories in Part D. Part A States were the former Governors’ Provinces of British India
— nine of them were listed, including Bombay. The Bombay State included large parts of
today’s Maharashtra, plus parts of modern Gujarat and Karnataka.

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A yellow line has been painted on the walkway at Navapur railway station which shows
Gujarat area and Maharashtra area. The railway authorities have also installed a bench
that attracts a large number of passengers. (Javed Raja)
The recognition of the fact that a grouping of states on political and historical grounds did
not satisfy linguistic and cultural aspirations led to the appointment of the S K Dhar
Commission in 1948, followed by the so-called “JVP Committee”, both of which felt that a
reorganisation of states on the basis of language was not desirable.

However, a powerful agitation in the Telugu-speaking parts of Madras State, and the
subsequent creation of the Andhra State in 1953 had a ripple effect across the country,
and the States Reorganisation Commission was appointed. In 1956, Parliament passed
The States Reorganisation Act, which re-drew the boundaries of Indian states.

The States Reorganisation Act created new boundaries for the State of Bombay,
transferring some Kannada-speaking areas to Mysore State, and expanding the territories
of Bombay to include Marathi-speaking Marathwada and Vidarbha, as well as Gujarati-
speaking Saurashtra and Kutch. The new state was bilingual, and also included areas that
spoke Kutchi and Konkani.

From 1956 onward, the Samyukta Maharashtra Movement spearheaded the demand for a
separate Marathi-speaking state with Bombay as the capital. Simultaneously, the
Mahagujarat Movement pressed for a state of Gujarat for Gujarati-speaking people in the
Bombay State.

Their agitations bore fruit when Parliament passed The Bombay Reorganisation Act,
1960, which provided that “as from the appointed day (May 1, 1960), there shall be
formed a new State to be known as the State of Gujarat comprising the following
territories from the State of Bombay, namely… and thereupon, the said territories shall
cease to form part of the State of Bombay, and the residuary State of Bombay shall be
known as the State of Maharashtra”.

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