Bombay State was a large

Indian state India is a federal union comprising 28 states and 8 union territories, for a total of 36 subnational entities. The states and union territories are further subdivided into 800 districts and smaller administrative divisions by the respe ...

created in 1950 from the erstwhile Bombay Province, with other regions being added to it in the succeeding years. Bombay Province (in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

roughly equating to the present-day Indian state of

Maharashtra Maharashtra () is a state in the western peninsular region of India occupying a substantial portion of the Deccan Plateau. It is bordered by the Arabian Sea to the west, the Indian states of Karnataka and Goa to the south, Telangana to th ...

, excluding Marathwada and Vidarbha) was merged with the princely states of Baroda, Western India and Gujarat (the present-day Indian state of

Gujarat Gujarat () is a States of India, state along the Western India, western coast of India. Its coastline of about is the longest in the country, most of which lies on the Kathiawar peninsula. Gujarat is the List of states and union territories ...

) and the Deccan States (which included parts of the present-day Indian states of Maharashtra and

Karnataka Karnataka ( ) is a States and union territories of India, state in the southwestern region of India. It was Unification of Karnataka, formed as Mysore State on 1 November 1956, with the passage of the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, States Re ...

). On 1 November 1956, Bombay State was reorganised under the

States Reorganisation Act The States Reorganisation Act, 1956 was a major reform of the boundaries of India's States and union territories of India, states and territories, organising them along linguistic lines. Although additional changes to India's state boundaries ...

on linguistic lines, absorbing various territories including the Saurashtra and Kutch States, which ceased to exist. On 1 May 1960, Bombay State was dissolved and split on linguistic lines into the two states of

, with Gujarati speaking

population Population is a set of humans or other organisms in a given region or area. Governments conduct a census to quantify the resident population size within a given jurisdiction. The term is also applied to non-human animals, microorganisms, and pl ...

and

, with Marathi speaking

History

During the

British Raj The British Raj ( ; from Hindustani language, Hindustani , 'reign', 'rule' or 'government') was the colonial rule of the British The Crown, Crown on the Indian subcontinent, * * lasting from 1858 to 1947. * * It is also called Crown rule ...

, portions of the western coast of India under direct British rule were part of the Bombay Presidency. After Indian independence in 1947 and when India was partitioned, Bombay Presidency remained part of India, while Sind province became part of

Pakistan Pakistan, officially the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, is a country in South Asia. It is the List of countries and dependencies by population, fifth-most populous country, with a population of over 241.5 million, having the Islam by country# ...

. The territory retained by India was restructured into Bombay State when India became a republic in 1950. It included princely states such as

Kolhapur Kolhapur () is a city on the banks of the Panchganga River in the southern part of the Indian state of Maharashtra. Kolhapur is one of the most significant cities in South Maharashtra and has been a hub of historical, religious, and cultural a ...

in Deccan, and Baroda and the Dangs in Gujarat, which had former parts of Deccan States Agency and Baroda, Western India and Gujarat States Agency.

Expansion of the state

As a result of the

on 1 November 1956, the

Kannada Kannada () is a Dravidian language spoken predominantly in the state of Karnataka in southwestern India, and spoken by a minority of the population in all neighbouring states. It has 44 million native speakers, and is additionally a ...

-speaking districts of

Belgaum Belgaum (Kannada ISO 15919, ISO: ''Bēḷagāma'', ), officially known as Belagavi (also Belgaon), is a city in the Indian state of Karnataka located near its northern western border in the Western Ghats. It is the administrative headquarters ...

(except Chandgad taluka), Bijapur, Dharwar, and North Canara were transferred from Bombay State to Mysore State. but the State of Bombay was significantly enlarged, expanding eastward to incorporate the Marathi-speaking Marathwada region of Hyderabad State, the Marathi-speaking Vidarbha region of southern

Madhya Pradesh Madhya Pradesh (; ; ) is a state in central India. Its capital is Bhopal and the largest city is Indore, Indore. Other major cities includes Gwalior, Jabalpur, and Sagar, Madhya Pradesh, Sagar. Madhya Pradesh is the List of states and union te ...

, and Gujarati-speaking Saurashtra and Kutch states. The Bombay state was being referred to by the local inhabitants as "Maha Dwibhashi Rajya", meaning, "the great bilingual state". In 1956, the States Reorganisation Committee, against the will of

Jawaharlal Nehru Jawaharlal Nehru (14 November 1889 – 27 May 1964) was an Indian anti-colonial nationalist, secular humanist, social democrat, and statesman who was a central figure in India during the middle of the 20th century. Nehru was a pr ...

, recommended a bilingual state for Maharashtra-Gujarat with Bombay as its capital, whereas in ''

Lok Sabha The Lok Sabha, also known as the House of the People, is the lower house of Parliament of India which is Bicameralism, bicameral, where the upper house is Rajya Sabha. Member of Parliament, Lok Sabha, Members of the Lok Sabha are elected by a ...

'' discussions in 1955, the Congress party demanded that the city be constituted as an autonomous city-state. In the 1957 elections, the Samyukta Maharashtra movement opposed these proposals, and insisted that Bombay be declared the capital of Maharashtra.

Dissolution of Bombay state

Bombay State was finally dissolved with the formation of

and

states on 1 May 1960. Following protests of Samyukta Maharashtra Movement, in which 107 people were killed by police, Bombay State was reorganised on linguistic lines. Gujarati-speaking areas of Bombay State were partitioned into the state of Gujarat following Mahagujarat Movement. Maharashtra State with

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

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.

Chief ministers

Bombay State had three chief ministers after the independence of India: * Balasaheb Gangadhar Kher was the first

chief minister A chief minister is an elected or appointed head of government of – in most instances – a sub-national entity, for instance an administrative subdivision or federal constituent entity. Examples include a state (and sometimes a union ter ...

of Bombay (1946–1952) *

Morarji Desai Morarji Ranchhodji Desai (29 February 1896 – 10 April 1995) was an Indian politician and Indian independence activist, independence activist who served as the Prime Minister of India, prime minister of India between 1977 and 1979 leading th ...

(1952–1956) *

Yashwantrao Chavan Yashwantrao Balwantrao Chavan (Marathi pronunciation: əʃʋənt̪ɾaːʋ t͡səʋʱaːɳ 12 March 1913 – 25 November 1984) was an Indian freedom fighter and politician who served as 8th Minister of Finance from 1970 to 1971 and 1971 to 19 ...

(1956–1960)

Governors

Upon the split of Bombay State in 1960, the designation of the "Governor of Bombay" was renamed to the

Governor of Maharashtra The governor of Maharashtra is the ceremonial head of the Indian state of Maharashtra. The Constitution of India confers the executive powers of the state to the governor; however, the de facto executive powers lie with the Council of Minister ...

. Sources: ''

'' and ''Greater Bombay District Gazetteer'' ;Graphical ImageSize = width:800 height:auto barincrement:12 PlotArea = top:10 bottom:50 right:130 left:20 AlignBars = late DateFormat = yyyy Period = from:1948 till:1960 TimeAxis = orientation:horizontal ScaleMajor = unit:year increment:6 start:1948 Colors = id:canvas value:rgb(0.97,0.97,0.97) id:PA value:blue legend: Appointed Legend = columns:2 left:150 top:24 columnwidth:100 Backgroundcolors = canvas:canvas BarData = barset:TNG PlotData= width:5 align:left fontsize:S shift:(5,-4) anchor:till barset:TNG from:1948 till:1952 color:PA text:" Raja Sir Maharaj Singh (1948–1952)" from:1952 till:1954 color:PA text:" Sir Girija Shankar Bajpai (1952–1954)" from:1955 till:1956 color:PA text:" Hare Krishna Mahtab (1955–1956)" from:1956 till:1960 color:PA text:" Sri Prakasa (1956–1960)"

References