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From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti (Marathi: संयुक्त महारा सिमित), roughly translated as United
Maharashtra Committee, was an organisation that spearheaded the demand, in the 1950s, for the creation of
a separate Marathi-speaking state out of the (then bilingual) State of Bombay in western India, with the city
of Bombay (now known as Mumbai) as its capital.

The organisation was founded on February 6, 1956, under the leadership of

Keshavrao Jedhe in Pune. Prominent activists of Samyukta Maharashtra
Samiti were Acharya Atre, Prabodhankar Thackeray, Senapati Bapat and
Shahir AmarShaikh among others. Acharya Atre criticised Jawaharlal
Nehru, Morarji Desai (then chief minister of Mumbai) and S.K. Patil (a
prominent MP from Mumbai city) through his firebrand editorials in
Maratha.

The Indian National Congress had pledged to linguistic states prior to

Independence. However after Independence, Nehru and Patel were
adamantly opposed to linguistic states. They perceived linguistic states as
threat to the integrity of India. For the first time and perhaps the only time,
RSS and its chief Guru Golwalkar supported Nehru and Patel against
redrawing of the map along linguistic lines. The catalyst to creation of State
Re-organization commission was fasting death of Telugu nationalist
Sriramulu Potti. In 1956, the SRC (States Re-organisation Committee)
under pressure from Nehru/Patel recommended creation of linguistic states
of AP, Kerala, Karnataka, , but recommended a bi-lingual state for Flora Fountain was renamed
Maharashtra-Gujarat, with Mumbai as its capital. To add insult to injury Hutatma Chowk ("Martyr's
(for Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti), they recommended creation of Square") as a memorial to the
Samyukta Maharashtra
Vidharba state to unite the marathi speaking people of former Hyderabad movement. The Hutatma
state with Holkar's Nagpur state. This led to the creation of Samyukta Chowk memorial with the
Maharashtra Samiti which was previously called Samyuka Maharashtra Flora Fountain, on its left in
Parishad. Its inauguration on November 1, 1956, caused a great political stir the background.
and, under the leadership of Keshavrao Jedhe, an all-party meeting was
held in Pune and Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti was founded on February 6, 1956. In the second general
election the Samiti defeated the stalwarts of Congress by securing 101 seats out of 133, including 12 from
Mumbai. The Congress could form a government only with the support of Gujarat, Marathwada and
Vidarbha. Yeshwantrao Chavan replaced Morarji Desai as the Chief Minister of the bi-lingual Bombay State.

SM Joshi, SA Dange, NG Gore and PK Atre fought relentlessly for Samyukta Maharashtra, even at the cost
of sacrificing the lives of several people and finally succeeded in convincing Congress leaders that
Maharashtra should form a separate state. The resignation of C. D. Deshmukh, the then Finance Minister of
the Nehru Cabinet, had its salutary effect.

In January 1956, demonstrators were fired upon by the police at Flora Fountain in the capital city of
Mumbai. Flora Fountain was subsequently renamed Hutatma Chowk or "Martyr's Crossroads" in their
memory. It is estimated that in all, 105 people were shot by security forces. Morarji Desai, who was the then
chief minister of Bombay state was later removed and replaced by YB Chawan as a result of criticism
related to this incident.

The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti achieved its goal on May 1, 1960 when the State of Bombay was
partitioned into the Marathi-speaking State of Maharashtra and the Gujarati-speaking State of Gujarat.

2 पैकी 1 30-08-2009 00:52

Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samyukta_Maharashtra_Samiti

However Goa (then a Portuguese colony), Belgaum, Karwar and adjoining areas, which were also part of the
Maharashtra envisioned by the Samiti, were not included in Maharashtra state. Belgaum district, which has a
majority Marathi population is still an active dispute and Maharashtra government has filed a petition in
Supreme Court.

Samyukta Maharashtra movement (http://www.ciil-ebooks.net/html/langMove/samyukta.html)

Founding of the Samiti (http://www.maharashtra.gov.in/english/community
/community_samyuktaShow.php)
'Zalach Pahije!' by P.K.Atre ISBN 81-86837-00-0

संयुक्त महारा चळवळ in Marathi wikipedia

Samyukta Maharashtra website (http://www.samyuktamaharashtra.org)

Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Samyukta_Maharashtra_Samiti"

Categories: History of Maharashtra | Reorganisation of Indian states
Hidden categories: Articles containing Marathi language text | All articles with unsourced statements |
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2 पैकी 2 30-08-2009 00:52