States Reorganisation Commission
[1] In September 1955, after two years of study, the Commission, comprising Justice Fazal Ali, K. M. Panikkar and H. N. Kunzru, submitted its report.
In 1927, the Congress declared that it was committed to "the redistribution of provinces on a linguistic basis", and reaffirmed its stance several times, including in the election manifesto of 1945-46.
[6] But, soon after independence, the Congress-led Government became concerned that the states formed solely on a linguistic basis might be unsuitable, and might even pose a risk to the national unity.
In its 10 December 1948 report, the Commission recommended that "the formation of provinces on exclusively or even mainly linguistic considerations is not in the larger interests of the Indian nation.
Soon after the report was published, the Congress, at its Jaipur session, set up the "JVP committee" to study the recommendations of the Dhar Commission.
The committee consisted of Jawaharlal Nehru and Vallabhbhai Patel, in addition to the Congress president Pattabhi Sitaramayya.
Potti Sreeramulu, a Congress activist who demanded the formation of a Telugu-majority state, died on 16 December 1952 after undertaking a fast-unto-death.
[11] However, the Indian government did not accept the recommendation and merged these areas in the predominantly Marathi speaking Bombay state.
[citation needed] The Travancore Tamil Nadu Congress demanded to merge Thovalai, Agasteeswaram, Kalkulam, Vilavancode, Neyyatinkara, Senkottai, Deviculam and Peermade with Madras State.
In the July 1956 Lok Sabha meeting, Nesamony argued for the full merger of Shencottai as recommended by SRC.
Hyderabad Chief minister in his letter to Congress President said Communist parties supported the merger for their political calculations.
[16][17] Popular newspaper in Telangana, Golconda Patrika, in its editorial on 8 March 1956, immediately after Nehru public declaration about the merger, expressing doubts about the Gentleman's agreement said "Andhra older brother might say any number of sweet things now, but they have to be committed to their promises and they should not exploit Telangana younger brother in future.
[19] In early 2014, the Andhra Pradesh Reorganisation Act, 2014 was approved by the Indian parliament, and Telangana became India's 29th state on 2 June 2014.
The Akali Dal, a Sikh-dominated political party active only in Punjab, sought to create a Punjabi Suba (a Punjabi-majority) province.
"[21]: 210–211 Ramachandra Guha writes that "Behind the veneer of cosmopolitanism there was one language group that dominated the ‘save Bombay’ movement: the Gujaratis."
[21]: 211 Nehru was 'somewhat' sympathetic to "keeping Bombay out of the control of a single language group," as was the Marathi Speaking M. S. Golwalkar of the RSS.
G. V. Deshmukh stated that unless Bombay became part of the state, Maharashtrians would have to remain content "playing the part of secondary brokers to brokers, secondary agents to agents, assistant professors to professors, clerks to managers [and] hired labourers to shopkeepers.
Also stating that Bombay relied economically on its Marathi hinterlands, from where it drew its labour, water, energy and 'ways of communication.'
Purushottamdas was willing to give up the city-state idea in favour of a composite bilingual province of Marathi and Gujrati speakers.
The issue of Bombay would therefore be referred to the States Reorganization Commission, "the hottest of the many hot potatoes it became their misfortune to handle.
