Mahagujarat movement મહાગુજરાત આંદોલન |
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Rally supporting movement
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Date | 8 August 1956 | - 1 May 1960||
Location | Bombay state, India | ||
Goals | creation of the separate state of Gujarat for Gujarati-speaking people from the bilingual Bombay state | ||
Methods | Protest march, Street protest, riot, hunger strike, strike | ||
Result | formation of Gujarat and Maharashtra states on 1 May 1960 | ||
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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, as well as the Marathi-speaking Maharashtra state, on 1 May 1960.
The term Mahagujarat includes all Gujarati speaking area including mainland Gujarat and peninsulas of Saurashtra and Kutch.
Writer-politician Kanaiyalal Munshi had coined the term Mahagujarat at the Karachi meet of Gujarati Sahitya Parishad in 1937.
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. 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 the states should be reorganized or not on 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), 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".
Mahagujarat conference was held in 1948 to include all Gujarati speaking people under one administration which finally resulted in formation of Gujarat.