https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?action=history&feed=atom&title=Samyukta_Maharashtra_SamitiSamyukta Maharashtra Samiti - Revision history2026-08-19T00:12:27ZRevision history for this page on the wikiMediaWiki 1.43.6https://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samyukta_Maharashtra_Samiti&diff=451338&oldid=prevMohit Kumar: Enhanced content and organization2025-10-10T13:58:56Z<p>Enhanced content and organization</p>
<a href="//en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samyukta_Maharashtra_Samiti&diff=451338&oldid=145296">Show changes</a>Mohit Kumarhttps://en.bharatpedia.org/w/index.php?title=Samyukta_Maharashtra_Samiti&diff=145296&oldid=previmported>Charbroil at 05:46, 18 August 20212021-08-18T05:46:29Z<p></p>
<p><b>New page</b></p><div>{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2020}}<br />
{{Use Indian English|date=February 2018}}<br />
{{one source|date=November 2012}}<br />
{{short description|Former Indian organization}}<br />
[[File:Hutatma Chowk.jpg|thumb|[[Hutatma Chowk]] ("Martyr's Square") memorial to the Samyukta Maharashtra movement in [[Mumbai]]. The memorial was dedicated to members of the organisation killed by police during protests. The [[Flora Fountain]] can be seen on its left in the background.]]<br />
'''Samyukta Maharashtra Movement''' ({{lang-mr|Sanyukta Maharashtra Chalaval}}), commonly known as the '''Samiti''', was an organisation in [[India]] that advocated for a separate [[Marathi language|Marathi]]-speaking [[State of India|state]] in [[Western India]] and [[Central India]] from 1956 to 1960.<br />
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The Samiti demanded the creation of a new state from Marathi-speaking areas of the [[Bombay State|State of Bombay]], a Marathi state, with the city of [[Bombay]] as its capital.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qmoiCCN2AK0C&pg=PA37|title=Dialogue with Life|first=Madhu|last=Dandavate|date=19 November 2017|publisher=Allied Publishers|isbn=9788177648560|access-date=19 November 2017|via=Google Books}}</ref> The Samiti achieved its goal when the state of [[Maharashtra]] was created on 1 May 1960. Members continued to advocate for the inclusion of Marathi-speaking areas in northern [[Karnataka]] such as [[Belgaum]], [[Karwar]], [[Dharwad]] and [[Bidar]] into Maharashtra, and the newly annexed state of [[Goa and Damaon]] until the 1967 [[Goa Opinion Poll]] rejected merger with Maharashtra.<br />
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==History==<br />
The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement organisation was founded on 6 February 1956, at Tilak Smarak Mandir in [[Pune]]. The Samiti declared its Executive Council. [[Shripad Amrit Dange]] 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]], [[Shripad Amrit Dange]], [[Narayan Ganesh Gore]], and [[Uddhavrao Patil]]. Other leaders included Anna Bhau Sathe, Maina Gawankar, Walchand Kothari, [[Pralhad Keshav Atre]], [[Keshav Sitaram Thackeray]], [[Pandurang Mahadev Bapat]], Bhausaheb Raut, and Amar Shaikh, [[G. T. Madkholkar]], [[Madhu Dandavate]], Y. K. Souni. As a part of the campaign, [[P. K. Atre]] used his Maratha newspaper to criticise Prime minister [[Jawaharlal Nehru]], [[Morarji Desai]] (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.<ref>{{cite web| last=Guha | first= Ramachandra|url=http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2003/04/13/stories/2003041300240300.htm |title=The battle for Bombay|date=2003-04-13|access-date=2008-11-12|archive-date=2003-07-06|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20030706034116/http://www.hinduonnet.com/thehindu/mag/2003/04/13/stories/2003041300240300.htm|url-status=dead|work=[[The Hindu]]}}</ref><br />
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The Indian National Congress had pledged to introduce linguistic states prior to Independence.<ref name="auto">{{cite journal|last1=Windmiller|first1=Marshall|title=The Politics of States Reorganization in India: The Case of Bombay|journal=Far Eastern Survey|date=1956|volume=25|issue=9 (Sep)|pages=129–143|jstor=3024387|doi=10.1525/as.1956.25.9.01p1062z}}</ref> However, after Independence, [[Jawaharlal Nehru]] and [[Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel]] 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]] 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]], [[Kerala]] and [[Karnataka]] but recommended a bi-lingual state for Maharashtra-Gujarat, with Bombay as its capital but Vidarbha outside Maharashtra. Further, they recommended{{Citation needed|date=November 2009}} the creation of [[Vidharba]] 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]] in the capital city of [[Mumbai|Bombay]]. Flora Fountain was subsequently renamed [[Hutatma Chowk]] 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]] as a result of criticism related to the 21 November incident.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://epaper.timesofindia.com/Repository/ml.asp?Ref=TU1JUi8yMDA4LzA1LzEzI0FyMDA1MDA=&Mode=HTML&Locale=english-skin-custom|title=BMC will give jobs to kin of Samyukta Maharashtra martyrs|website=epaper.TimesOfIndia.com|access-date=19 November 2017}}</ref> 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.<ref name="auto"/><ref>{{cite book|last1=Gopal|first1=Sarvepalli|title=Jawaharlal Nehru: A Biography, Volume 2: 1947-1956|date=1980|publisher=Harvard University Press|location=Cambridge, MA, USA|isbn=9781473521889|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YZh-BAAAQBAJ&q=deshmukh&pg=PT145|access-date=11 January 2017}}</ref> 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]], [[Marathwada]] and [[Vidharba]].<br />
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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 [[Gujarat|State of Gujarat]]. However [[Goa]] (then a Portuguese colony), [[Belgaum]], [[Karwar]] 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.<br />
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==See also==<br />
{{Portal|India}}<br />
* [[Mahagujarat Movement]]<br />
* [[Hutatma Chowk]]<br />
* [[States Reorganisation Act]]<br />
* [[Chronology of statehood of Maharashtra]]<br />
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==References==<br />
<references /><br />
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==External links==<br />
* [http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/langMove/samyukta.html Samyukta Maharashtra movement]<br />
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20081006221033/http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/community/community_samyuktaShow.php Founding of the Samiti]<br />
* 'Zalach Pahije!' by P.K. Atre {{ISBN|81-86837-00-0}}<br />
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{{Mumbai topics}}<br />
{{Maharashtra}}<br />
{{Marathi language topics}}<br />
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[[Category:History of Maharashtra (1947–present)]]<br />
[[Category:Reorganisation of Indian states]]<br />
[[Category:1956 in India]]<br />
[[Category:Protests in India]]</div>imported>Charbroil