Linguistic States: The struggle and success

Chennai: Madras Presidency was an administrative subdivision (presidency) of British India. At the time of Bharathi's poem titled 'Senthamamizh Nadu', the presidency's greatest extension included most of southern India, including the whole of the Indian states of Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh and parts of Odisha, Kerala, Karnataka, Telangana, and the union territory of Lakshadweep. This entire territory was called the 'Madras Presidency'.

Why did the Madras Presidency split?

The college, which was established on 16 October 1840, during the British Period was named as 'Presidency College'. Today it has been renamed as 'State College'.

Not only that the 'Madras Presidency' has been changed to Tamil Nadu, 'Madras' has become Chennai. It required so many lives to be sacrificed for all these changes which we see today!

From the early 1950's the slogan started raising asking to, 'Divide the Madras Presidency and create a state of Andhra Pradesh'. To strengthen this demand, 'Potti Sriramulu' an Indian freedom fighter and revolutionary began a hunger strike on October 19, 1952, sitting at his Residence in Chennai which continued for almost 58 days.

Violence erupts in Andhra Pradesh

The news of Potti Srinivasalu's protest spread like a wildfire across the country. Finally, on 15th December, Ramalu sacrificed his life. This led to the violence in Andhra Pradesh where firing happened and more than 10 people were killed by police.

Following the continuous tension across the state, the then Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru announced to merge the Telugu-speaking areas On December 29, 1952, and Andhra Pradesh became a separate state from October 1, 1953.

SK Dhar's Commission

On June 17, 1948, Nehru favoured the creation of linguistic states in the Constituent Assembly, also he set up a commission led by former Allahabad High Court judge S.K. Dhar.

The commission advised , "It is unnecessary to form linguistic states in India; the states should be organized based on the basis of administration which will aid in the growth of natural resources and economic welfare of the country. This will also help for the integrity and peace among the fellow citizens.

The statement of Dhar's commission created a huge turmoil in various parts of the country. Following this 3-member committee was organized immediately which included Jawaharlal Nehru, Valabhai Patel and Pittabhi Sitharamaiah. This committee was named as the JVP committee.

Vaiko's slogan 'Tamil Homeland'

"In April 1949, the JVP committee also advocated against the creation of linguistic states. The committee demanded that the states should be 'divided on economic and security lines'. Following this, Vaiko said that we shall take the oath on Nov 1 which is considered as the birth of Tamil Homeland.

Accordingly, by an Act passed on November 1, 1956, India was divided into 14 states and 6 union territories.

British India; Independent India

"The most prominent change that has taken place in India since Independence has been the creation of linguistic states. Many people still do not understand that India is a federation of many linguistic nationalities. They think that 'state' is for some administrative convenience. But every linguistic state has a historical background.

Most of them opposed the fact that the administration could be run only in their respective languages. The 'Vishala Andra' protest happened against this and in 1953 a separate state was created as Andra Pradesh. "It was the first separation happened after Independent India" says writer Azhi Senthilnathan.

Before that, it was Orissa Province that was partitioned in 1936 due to the efforts of Madhusudan Das, the father of Odia nationalism and Sindhu was divided from Bombay during the same period.

Linguistic States

Similarly, the first anti-Hindi agitation in India took place in Orissa in the year 1885 and this was the major reason for the division of Orissa.

Soon after the bifurcation of Andhra Pradesh, nationwide protest happened in demand of Samyukta Karanataka by Kanadigas, Samyukta Maharashtra by Marathis and for United state of Kerala by Malayalis. There were also protests demanding separate states for Punjab and Gujarat.

It was the Congressmen and communists who fought for a separate state for the whole of India. In addition, the M.P.C. in Tamil Nadu also supported the idea of a linguistic state. But Nehru, who was the president of the Congress Party, was against this.

Nehru couldn't understand the importance of the linguistic state; he was highly against this because he felt that dividing the country with languages will create a huge problem.

DMK greetings in assembly

The DMK accepted the linguistic lines, they appreciated and congratulated for the bifurcation of Andra Pradesh. They also said that the 4 southern states will be called the Dravidian province.

Nedunchezhiyan's Letter

The then general secretary of the DMK Navalar Nedunchezhiyan had made certain regulations that 'boundaries should not be amended while dividing the states along linguistic lines'.

When linguistic states were divided, the newly emerging states celebrated it with enthusiasm. But Tamil Nadu did not celebrate much. The reason was that Tamil Nadu was at a loss because many areas were divided. So, I don't think of it as a happy one - He said

Anna's point -

Accepting the creation of the new state, AnnaDurai wrote: 'This partition has given us that there is only one area where there are only Tamil people and this is an historical event. We have got a homeland of our own. Therefore, we have to celebrate it." However, the day of partition did not take inspiration in Tamil Nadu as a big festival."

"In Kerala, November 1 is celebrated as Kerala Birthday. In Karnataka, 'Rajyotsavam Day' is celebrated. Many states are celebrating this.

Stalin's legal right

When Andhra Pradesh was bifurcated, there was no common law in India for partition. Therefore, a special law was enacted for that alone. Then in 1956, a law called linguistic reorganization of states was enacted for the linguistic division of the state along linguistic lines and divided it as a whole.

That is why the DMK did not celebrate November 1 as Tamil Nadu Day. The state day is celebrated on July 18, which was renamed as 'Tamil Nadu' by Anna. That's what Chief Minister Stalin has legally confirmed," says Azhi. Senthilnathan.