Mahagujarat Movement: History, Reasons & 1956 Reorganization Explained

 Mahagujarat Movement 

The Dhar Commission in June 1948 and the JVP Committee in December 1948 rejected the demand for a language-based state. The Commission, chaired by Fazl Ali, accepted the recommendation to create states on the basis of language but opposed the principle of 'one state, one language'. Under this, in November 1956, Kutch, Saurashtra and Lower Gujarat were merged with Greater Mumbai and a bilingual Greater Mumbai state was established. 

 Background of the Mahagujarat Movement 

 Mahagujarat The word 'Mahagujarat' was coined by Kanaiyalal Maneklal Munshi in the 1937 meeting of the Gujarati Sahitya Parishad held at Karachi. The first Mahagujarat conference was held in Mumbai on April 1948 under the chairmanship of Kanaiyalal Munshi. It was named 'Mumbai's Mahagujarat Parishad'. The Mahagujarat Parishad began in the vast grounds of Shri Vitthalbhai Patel Arts and Science College in Vrillabh Vidyanagar. In the year 1951, the 'Mahagujarat Seema Samiti' was formed under the chairmanship of Sir Purushottamdas Trikamdas. In the year 1952, the Mahagujarat Seema Parishad was formed with the efforts of Bhai Lalbhai Patel, whose chairman was Himmatlal Shukal. On January 17, 1956, Nehru announced that Gujarat including Saurashtra, Maharashtra including Vidarbha and the rest of Mumbai city would be separated, but the idea of ​​separating Mumbai from Maharashtra led to riots in Mumbai. This led to the creation of a bilingual Mumbai state with Gujarati and Marathi languages.

Morarjibhai Desai was the second Chief Minister of the bilingual Bombay State and he was in support of a united Mumbai State. 

 The beginning of the Mahagujarat movement 

 On August 7, 1956, the central government declared a bilingual state. In this regard, some students protested in the Bhadra Fort area. 42 On August 8, 1956, the students of Law College of Ahmedabad went on a spontaneous strike and protested outside the Congress Bhavan during the processions. Four students, Poonam Chand Virchand Adani, Kaushik Indulal Vyas, Suresh Jaishankar Bhatt, Abdulbhai Pirbhai Vasa, were martyred in police firing. The first martyr of the Mahagujarat Movement was Poonam Chand Virchand Adani of Banaskantha. 700 ☺ The Mahagujarat Movement began on August 8, 1956. Therefore, August 8 is celebrated every year as 'Mahagujarat Movement Day'. 

 On 9 August, a meeting of the National Students' Union was held at the Law College, in which Brahmakumar Bhatt, Harihar Khambholja, Karsandas Parmar, Chimanlal Parmar, Hariprasad Vyas, Prabodh Rawat etc. were present. To pay tribute to Vinod Kinariwala, the martyr of the Quit India movement, 9 August, 1956 was celebrated as 'Shaheed Kinariwala Din'.

 Among the women leaders who contributed to the Mahagujarat movement were Vinodini Neelkanth, Ranjanben Dalal, Virbala Nagarwadia, Dinbai Kama, Shardaben Mehta etc. 6 On 13th August, a meeting of the 'Mahagujarat Vidyarthi Samiti' was held, whose president was Dr. Anant Shelat.

- Gujarat celebrated Independence Day on 15 August, 1956 as a day of mourning. Im > The main leaders of the Mahagujarat movement included Indulal Yagnik, Dadubhai Amin, Jayanti Dalal, Ratilal Khushaldas, Himmatlal Shukal, Martand Shastri, Brahmakumar Bhatt, Harihar Khambholja, Sanat Mehta, Karsandas Parmar etc. > On 19 August, 1956, a meeting of Morarjibhai Desai was organized at Lal-Darwaja in Ahmedabad. After discussion, the members of the Janata Parishad decided to organize a 'Janata Curfew' program in protest against it. 

 Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad

On September 9, 1956, the 'Mahagujarat Janata Parishad' was established. Indulal Yashik took the leadership of the Mahagujarat Janata Parishad. There were three main reasons for forming the council. First, to get the firing investigated, second, to form the Mahagujarat state, and third, to build a martyr's memorial for the martyrs who died in the firing. On October 2, 1956, on the occasion of Gandhi Jayanti, Prime Minister Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru came to Ahmedabad and held a meeting at the Lal Darwaza Maidan.

At the same time, the Mahagujarat Janata Parishad organized a parallel meeting under the chairmanship of Indulal Yagnik in the Law College grounds. Indulal Yagnik's meeting was many times larger than Jawaharlal Nehru's meeting.

 During this meeting, student leader Ranjit Shastri gave the slogan 'Gujarat ke Nehru Induchacha'. Also, on 1st October, 1956 (Dhanteras), Indulal Yagnik took out a 'Torch Procession'. I Elections and Results Janata Parishad participated in the Lok Sabha and Assembly elections, keeping the 'Rooster' as its election symbol.

 During the second general election of the country, the government started a crackdown on the leaders of the Janata Parishad who were carrying out the agitation. The Mahagujarat Janata Parishad started two dailies 'Jantantra' and 'Nav Gujarat' for public awareness. In the subsequent assembly elections of Greater Mumbai, the Janata Parishad won a total of 29 seats.

Martyr's Memorial Satyagraha

 When the Mahagujarat Jana Parishad met at Nadiad, it was decided to erect a martyr's memorial in memory of the martyred students. A place near the Red Gate in front of the Congress Bhavan was decided for the memorial and this square was named Shahid Chowk. Despite the passage of a long time, the Mahagujarat Janta Parishad formed the Mahagujarat Vidyarthi Pradhan Samiti and the Shahid Smarak Samiti. On August 8, 1958, the pillar was erected by the leader of the first group, Indulal Yagnik. On August 12, 1958, in the early morning, the police suddenly raided and uprooted the pillars erected in Ahmedabad, Kalol and Nadiad. Induchacha declared a seven-day fast in protest against this act. After the incident of lifting the pillar, the Mahagujarat Janata Parishad announced to start the "Shahid Smarak Satyagraha" and the "Jail Bharo Andolan" from 17th August, 1958. The "Shahid Smarak Satyagraha" was led by Indulal Yagnik and the "Jail Bharo Andolan" was led by Jayanti Dalal. After the issue of the Shaheed Smarak was resolved through mediation, a Shaheed Smarak was built in front of the Congress House in Bhadra on 12th September (1968) which was inaugurated by Indulal Yagnik.

Formation of Gujarat State 

On April 19, 1960, the Parliament of India passed the Bombay State Bifurcation Bill. On April 23, 1960, the Rajya Sabha passed the Bifurcation Bill and on April 25, the President signed the Bill.

Since the Maha Gujarat Janata Parishad was only for the Maha Gujarat Movement, it was dissolved and its last session was held in Visnagar and the last meeting for the Vijayotsav was held near Lal Darwaza, Ahmedabad.

Gujarat State was established Gujarat State was established on 1 May 1960 by Ravi Shankar Maharaj. This day is celebrated as Gujarat's 'Foundation Day' or 'Gujarat Gaurav Diwas'. At the time of establishment of Gujarat State, Gujarat had 17 districts and 185 talukas. In the year 1960, Gujarat became the 15th state of India. The Legislative Assembly of Gujarat State was inaugurated on 18 August 1960. Its first meeting was held at Ahmedabad Civil Hospital (Sheth Hathisingh Premabhai Civil Hospital). Elections were held for 132 seats of the first Legislative Assembly in Gujarat in the year 1962. The maximum number of Legislative Assembly seats in Gujarat are located in Ahmedabad.