History of Bombay in Independent India - Battle of Bombay

Battle of Bombay

The desire to domesticate cosmopolitan Bombay within a Marathi social and linguistic framework was strongly expressed in the 1950s. On 13 May 1946, a session of the Marathi literary conference held at Belgaum, unanimously resolved on the formation of a united Marathi state. Consequently, the Samyukta Maharashtra Parishad (United Maharashtra Conference) was formed on 28 September 1946, to unite all Marathi-speaking territories into a single political unit. The Parishad consisted of political leaders from the Congress and other parties, and prominent literary figures. It presented its point of view to the States Reorganisation Committee. The States Reorganisation Committee, which has submitted its report to the Indian Government in 1955, recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra–Gujarat with Bombay as its capital. The report also respected Gujarati susceptibilities over Bombay City. The Maharashtrians wanted Bombay as a part of Maharashtra, since it had majority of Marathi speakers. However, the city's economic and political elite feared that Bombay would decline under a government committed to developing the rural hinterland. Bombay Citizens' Committee, an advocacy group composed of leading Gujarati industrialists lobbied for Bombay's independent status.

In the Lok Sabha discussions on 15 November 1955, S. K. Patil, a Marathi-speaking Congress Member of Parliament (MP) from Bombay, demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state, laying great stress on its cosmopolitan character. On 20 November 1955, the Bombay Pradesh Congress Committee organized a public meeting at the Chowpatty beach in Bombay, where S. K. Patil and Congressman Morarji Desai, the then Chief Minister of Bombay State, made provocative statements on Bombay. Patil said that, "Maharashtra will not get Bombay for the next 5,000 years." On 21 November 1955, violent outbursts erupted, and there was a total hartal in Bombay. Thousands of angry protesters converged at Flora Fountain with a view to march peacefully towards the Council Hall, where the State Legislature was in session. The police used tear gas to disperse the crowd, but when it failed, they finally resorted to firing, killing 15 people. Under pressure from business interests in Bombay, it was decided to grant Bombay the status of a Union territory under a centrally-governed administration, setting aside the recommendations of the States Reorganisation Committee report. On 16 January 1956, Jawaharlal Nehru, the first Prime Minister of India, announced the government's decision to create separate states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, but put Bombay City under central administration. Large demonstrations, mass meetings and riots soon followed. The Bombay Police dissolved the mass meetings and arrested several of the movement's leaders. During 16 January–22 January, police fired at demonstrators protesting the arrests, in which more than 80 people were killed.

The States Reorganisation Committee report was to be implemented on 1 November 1956. It caused a great political stir and, led to the establishment of the Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti (United Maharashtra Committee) on 6 February 1956. The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti was basically born from the Samyukta Maharashtra Parishad, but had an enlarged identity with broad representation from not only the Congress, but opposition parties, and independents as well. The Samiti spearheaded the demand for the creation of a separate Maharashtra state including Bombay out of the bilingual Bombay State using violent means. In the August 1956 discussions, the Union cabinet agreed on the creation of a bigger bilingual Bombay State including Maharashtra, Marathwada, Vidharbha, Gujarat, Saurashtra, Kutch, and Bombay City. In the second general elections of Bombay State held in 1957, the Samiti secured a majority of 101 seats out of 133 in Maharashtra. The Congress could secure only 32 seats out of 133 in Maharashtra, obtaining a bare majority of 13 out of 24 in Greater Bombay. The Congress suffered the same fate in Gujarat, winning only 57 out of 89 seats. The Congress however succeeded in forming a government in Bombay State with the support of Marathwada and Vidarbha. Yashwantrao Chavan became the first Chief Minister of the bilingual Bombay State. In 1959, he headed a cabinet of 15, out of which 4 represented Gujarat, to discuss the future of Bombay State. Chavan managed in convincing Jawaharlal Nehru and Indira Gandhi, who was elected President of the Indian National Congress in 1959, of the futility of the bilingual Bombay State, which was increasingly jeopardizing Congress prospects in Gujarat and Maharashtra. Finally on 4 December 1959, the Congress Working Committee (CWC) passed a resolution recommending the bifurcation of the Bombay State.

The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti achieved its goal when Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines on 1 May 1960. Gujarati-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat. Maharashtra State with Bombay as its capital was formed with the merger of Marathi-speaking areas of Bombay State, eight districts from Central Provinces and Berar, five districts from Hyderabad State, and numerous princely states enclosed between them. The pro-Samyukta Maharashtra writers claimed that in all 105 persons died in the battle for Bombay. As a memorial to the martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement, Flora Fountain was renamed as Hutatma Chowk (Martyr's Square), and a memorial was erected, since it was the starting point of the agitation.

After the 1960 bifurcation, many Gujaratis left Bombay feeling that they would be better-off in Gujarat than in Bombay, and fearing that they would be neglected by the Maharashtra Government. The Maharashtrians also blamed the Gujaratis for the death of the 105 martyrs of the Samyukta Maharashtra movement.