Linguistic Reorganisation of the States

The demand for reorganisation of the states on the basis of language was an outcome of linguistic pluralism in India. The demand surfaced immediately after independence. The boundaries of provinces in pre-independent India were the outcome of the British conquest of India. The state boundaries were drawn either for administrative convenience or simply coincided with the territories annexed by the British government or the territories ruled by the princely states. The Congress in its 1920’s session in Nagpur had made efforts to recognise regional linguistic identities and divided India into 21 linguistic units for its organisational set up. Many provincial Congress committees were set up on the basis of linguistic zones, which often did not coincide with

the administrative divisions of British India.

However, when demands for the linguistic reorganisation of the provinces came up in the Constituent Assembly in 1946 and after independence, the national leadership under the Congress opposed it on the ground of national unity. The situation in the newly independent country was difficult. India’s partition had created serious administrative, economic and political challenges. The post-War world faced serious economic and law and order problems. The Kashmir problem and a war-like situation with Pakistan needed urgent attention. However, due to continuous demands, the Constituent Assembly, in June 1948, appointed the Linguistic Provinces Commission, headed by Justice S.K. Dhar, to enquire into the need of linguistic provinces. The Dhar Commission, however, opposed such a move in the interest of national

integration. Consequently the Constituent Assembly decided not to include the linguistic principle in the constitution. In December 1948, to pacify the vocal votaries of linguistic states, the Congress appointed a committee (JVP), with Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya as its members. Its report which is known as the JVP Report—also went against the creation of linguistic states in the interests of national unity. There was widespread agitation, especially in southern India, in the wake of the JVP

report.

The first demand for a linguistic province was seen in the Telugu-speaking region of Andhra. In August 1951, Swami Sitaram, a Congressman and Gandhian leader, started a fast unto death. While he broke his fast after thirty-five days, the movement was renewed in December 1952, by another Gandhian follower, Potti Sriramulu who died after fasting for fifty-six days. Sriramulu’s death was followed by rioting, demonstrations, hartals and violence all over the Andhra region. The government conceded the demand for a separate state of Andhra, which finally came into existence on October 1, 1953 with the region being separated from the Tamil speaking Madras state.

The creation of Andhra encouraged other linguistic groups to intensify their movements for their own state or for rectification of their boundaries on a linguistic ground. Under popular pressure, Nehru government appointed the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC) in August 1953. The commission, comprising Justice Fazl Ali, K.M. Panikkar and Hridaynath Kunzru as members, submitted its report in October 1955; its recommendations were accepted with some modifications and implemented quickly.

In November 1956, the States Reorganisation Act was passed which provided for fourteen states and six centrally administered territories, but many of these states still contained sizeable linguistic minorities and regional economic disparities. The Telangana region of Hyderabad state was merged into Andhra, Kerala was formed by merging the Malabar district of the old Madras Presidency with Travancore- Cochin. Bombay state was enlarged further by merging the states of Kutch and Saurashtra and the Marathi-speaking

regions of Hyderabad state. The Mysore state was enlarged by adding Kannada-speaking areas of adjoining states— Bombay, Madras, Hyderabad and Coorg.

As the SRC had opposed the splitting of Bombay and Punjab, a widespread rioting broke out in January 1956 in Bombay city. The government finally agreed in May 1960 to bifurcate the state of Bombay into Maharashtra and Gujarat, with Bombay city being included in Maharashtra, and Ahmedabad being made the capital of Gujarat.

The Nagas, the first to raise issue of ethnic identity, forced the Government of India to concede to demand for a separate state of Nagaland in 1960, inaugurated in 1963. In an exception to the linguistic principle, in 1956, the states of PEPSU were merged with Punjab. Punjab remained a trilingual state having three language speakers—Punjabi, Hindi and Pahari. The demand for a separate Punjabi Suba (Punjabi-speaking state) assumed communal overtones because of the Sikh and Hindu communalists. The problem remained unsolved in Nehru’s time. It was to be addressed later by Indira Gandhi. Over the years since then, many new states

have been formed, not necessarily along linguistic lines.