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State was formed in : 1960
1st May is celebrated as Maharashtra day. On this
day the state of Maharashtra attained statehood. Maharashtra is one of the
largest states in India, both in terms of population and area. Its booming
capital Mumbai, makes it not only one of the most important states,
economically, but also a major gateway for overseas visitors.
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The present state was formed in 1960 when the Marathi and Gujarati
linguistic areas of the former Bombay state were separated. Bombay then
became the capital of the new state. In independent India, Bombay, the
bilingual state, continued as one state consisting of Maharashtra and
Gujarat. But this equation of two linguistic units in one state did not work
and therefore on 1st May 1960, under the Bombay re-organization Act,
Maharashtra and Gujarat were divided into separate states. Maharashtra
retained the old capital Bombay. Shiv Sena Government has renamed the capital
city Bombay into Mumbai.
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In Mumbai, the Maharashtra Day celebrations are
held at the Shivaji Park in central Mumbai. The governor of the state takes
the salute at the ceremonial parade, comprising members of the state reserve
police force, Brihanmumbai Commando Force, home guards, civil defence, fire
brigade and city police.
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Exactly 160 years back Mumbai city witnessed the
first railway trip of India. In those days city was known as Bombay and CST
(Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus) was known as VT (Victoria Terminus). On
16-April-1853 at 3:35pm Mumbai witnessed this mega milestone of 34 km travel by
Railway track. Unfortunately Mumbai is not the first city to
witness the advanced Metro Train travel. It is ok that its late, but good news
is here. On 1-May Maharashtra day (Labour day), Chief Minister of Maharashtra
Shri Prithviraj Chavan took a ride in Metro to assure readiness of the
project. Metro Rail will officially be open to
the public in September-2013 as per MMRDA. ”Initially when the metro rail
is opened for public use, the frequency will be three and a half minutes, which
will be reduced to just three minutes during peak hours, later,” the official
said.
Long Live Maharashtra
What
the people want is very simple.
They
want Maharashtra as good as its promise.
Jai
Maharashtra
I love
my freedom. I love my Maharashtra
“Jai
Maharashtra!”
History of Maharashtra is an interesting episode in history of our
nation. Although formed as a separate state on May 1st, 1960,
Maharashtra is 2000 year old as a cultural identity. Let us quickly see what
happened on this land over the last thousand years, which certainly, has
culminated into the present we are living today.
2. The name, Maharashtra first appeared in 7th century in the account
of a contemporary Chinese traveler, Huan Tsang.
3. About 2000 years back, Maharashtra was part of Maurya Empire.
After Mauryas , Satvahanas came , then Vakatakas.The land kept
changing the hands from one dyanasty to another, until the year 1390 AD
which saw the fall of Yadavas of Devgiri. Thereafter, till 16th century,
Maharashtra remained under the rule of Muslim Sultanates from southern India.
4. All this was before Chhatrapati Shivaji came on the scene.In 1659
Shivaji succeeded in killing of famous Adilshahi general Afzal Khan and
demoralizing his army. He took advantage of this conflict and laid the
foundation of Maratha Kingdom near Pune, which later became the Maratha
capital. In 1674 he assumed the title of “Chhatrapati” at his elaborate
coronation. At the time of his death in 1680, nearly whole of the Deccan
belonged to his kingdom.
5. Shivaji Maharaj laid the foundation of “Maratha Swaraj” which
later saw its rapid expansion under the Peshwas, particularly the Bajirao-I and
his son Balaji when Maratha frontiers touched Gwalior in the North and Tanjore
in the south.
6. The Marathas however suffered a major setback at Panipat in 1761,
when they were defeated by Ahmed Shah Abdali of Afghanistan. Thereafter,
Maratha empire saw its downfall and by 1820s the British had spread their
tentacles all over the region.
7. Under the british rule, Maharashtra was in forefront in the
struggle for the independent India. The land gave birth to great leaders like
Lokmanya Tilak, Dr.B.R.Ambedkar, V.D .Savarkar who relentlessly waged war
against british rule.
8. The present state of Maharashtra is carved out of the bigger
bilingual Bombay state. The then Bombay province consisted of western
Maharashtra and Gujarat. In 1956, the states of India were recognized on
a language basis, Maharashtra state might have come into being at this time but
for the debate over Mumbai city kept the issue remained unsolved for next few
years. However the discontent and unrest in the people provoked large scale
agitations. The agitation ultimately paved the way for the formation of
Maharashtra, a new state of the Indian union, on May 1, 1960.
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