2042 T.Y.B.A. POLITICAL SCIENCE PAPER - IV POLITICAL PROCESS IN MAHARASHTRA © UNIVERSITY OF MUMBAI Dr. Sanjay Deshmukh Vice Chancellor, University of Mumbai Dr. Dhaneswar Harichandan Professor-Cum-Director IDOL, University of Mumbai Programme Co-ordinator : Shri.Anil R. Bankar Asst. Prof. cum -Asst. Director IDOL, Universityof Mumbai Editor & Writer : Prof. S. P. Buwa Associate Professor Dr. T. K. Tope Night College, Parel, Mumbai - 400012 Course Writers : Prof. Avinash Kolhe : Prof. M. Z. Shahid D. G. Ruparel College, Assistant Professor, Matunga, Mumbai - 400016 Maharashtra College of Arts & Science, Byculla, Mumbai - 400008 Prof. Ketan Bhosale : Prof. Monika Verma Sathye College, M. D. College, Vile Parle, Mumbai - 400057 Parel, Mumbai - 400012 Prof. Harshad Bhosale Kirti College, Dadar, Mumbai - 400028 August 2015, TYBA, Political Science, Political Process in Maharashtra Published by : Professor cum Director Institute of Distance and Open Learning , University of Mumbai, Vidyanagari, Mumbai - 400 098. ipin Enterprises DTP Composed : Tantia Jogani Industrial Estate, Unit No. 2, Ground Floor, Sitaram Mill Compound, J.R. Boricha Marg, Mumbai - 400 011 Printed by : CONTENTS Unit No. Title Page No. 1. Historical Background of Political Process in Maharashtra (1818-1960) 1 2. Regionalism - I 3. Caste, Class and Politics 4. Ethnicity, Religion and Politics 5. Non PartyArena 95 6. Political Parties and Elections 1 SECTION - I 1 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND OF POLITICAL PROCESS IN MAHARASHTRA [1818-1960] Unit Structure 1.0 Objectives 1.1 Introduction 1.2 Historical background 1.3 Social Reform Movement 1.4 The Nationalist Movement 1.5 Institutional Nationalsim 1.6 Pune Sarvajanik Sabha 1.7 The Indian National Congress 1.8 The Non Brahmin Movement 1.9 Changes After 1930 1.10 Protest Movement 1.11 Let Us Sum up 1.12 Unit End Exercises 1.0 OBJECTIVES This unit explains 1. Social and Political movements in 19th ,and 20th century Maharashtri . , 2. Contribution of Maharashtra in the national freedom movement 1.1 INTRODUCTION The Samyukta Maharashtra which came into existence on 1st May 1960 was the result of- "a "process which had begun- many decades ago. The units of Marathi-speaking people which were geographically contiguous were brought under one political entity. 2 Before Samyukta Maharashtra was formed, Vidarbha region was part of Central Province, which later became Madhya Pradesh. Its legal name was 'MP and Berar'. The .Berar [Vidarbha] region was attached to the Maharashtra. Similarly the Marathwada region was a part of Hyderabad State which was ruled by the Nizam till September 1948. The Police Action forced Nawab of Hyderabad to merge his state into the Union of India. Consequently the Marathi speaking area of Hyderabad state [Marathwada] became part of Maharashtra. Hence the new entity is known as 'Samyukta Maharashtra'. One must understand the historical forces behind this to understand the political process in Maharashtra. As we know, political process does not take place in vaccum. Hence it is necessary to understand the history of this region in modern era. 1.2 HISTORICAL BACKGROUND A quick look at the history of this region would reveal that till 1307 AD, this region was ruled by various Hindu dynasties. The last dynasty was the Yadavs of Deogiri. This dynasty was defeated by the Muslims from North India. With this began the dominance of Muslim rulers on this region which lasted -for over three centuries. Then came the Maratha rule. No matter who ruled this region, the entire region was never under one sovereign rule. Its various sub- units were ruled by different dynasties at different times. This observation is important so as to understand why special efforts need to be taken for the integration of various units of Maharashtra, which is not the case with many other states of Indian Union. A] Maratha rule: The new political awakening in thi& region began with the rise and growth of Shivaji. A young Shivaji Maharaj, was fired by the dream of establishing his own kingdoin in Deccan. He challenged Adilshahi of Vijapur as well as Mughals of Delhi. By latter half of Seventeenth century, Shivaji managed to carve out his kingdom bravely by defying the Muslims pdwerS around him. After his death, by the middle of eighteenth century the Peshwas made Merathas an all India power by raising the standard at Attack. However, the third battle of Panipat, 1761 gave Maratha' hegemony a body blow. By this time the East india- Company from England had become an important power in the political life of India. It had won the battle of Plessey., 1757 and firmly entrenched itself in India. By .1818, the Company managed to defeat the Marathas and became the undisputed ruler-Of India. B] British rule: 3 With the surrender of Peshwas in 1818, this region came under the rule of the East India Company and was made part of Bombay Presidency. Historically Marathwada and Vidarbha were part of Hyderabad State. The Bhonsale of Nagpur surrendered in 1848 and Nagpur region was made part of the Central Province. Later the Company got Berar region on lease from Nizam of Hyderabad. The Company needed to control the reach cottongrowing areas of Berar. Such lease became necessary as there was Civil War in America. This disrupted the supply of cotton to the textile 'mills in England. As an alternative source of supple, the-EIC got Berar region on lease from Nizam of Hyderabad. This transaction took place in 1860. In 1903 Berar region was appended to the Central Province. Its new name became 'Central Province and Berar' [CP and Berar]. This picture shows how Marathi-speaking areas which are part of Samyukta Maharashtra today were scattered in the early years of 201h century. 1.3 SOCIAL REFORMS MOVEMENT The English education began in India in 1835 thanks to the efforts of Lord Macalay. The Bombay Presidency was one of the few areas which came in contact with the Western education, Western values and culture. Consequently the political awakening began in this region much earlier compared to the other regions. The English-educated Marathi young generation started many social, educational and religious reform movements in this region. With English education and influence of Western values, these young Indians started questioning the outdated and quite often inhuman socio-religious practices like Child marriage, rigid caste system, widow remarriage, etc. To spread these new values, they started schools; colleges;" newspapers and later associations, political parties. The Non-Brahmin movement was launched by Mahatma Jyotiba Phule. In 1873, he started 'Satya Shodhak Samaj He wrote many books to express the plight of poor farmers [Shetkaryancha , Asod], protest against caste-dominance [GulaMgiri]. Similarly there. were upper-caste leaders like Justice Ranade, Lokhitawadi' Deshmukh, Tilak and Agarkar. All were part of social reform movement. Tilak and Agarkar were founders of New English School as, well as, Fergusson College. Both had started newspapers like Kesari and 'Maratha. These movements could be categorized into educational movements, social movements, women-related movements. This categorization is not water-tight as many issues would overlap. This categorization is done for better understanding only. 4 Caste: . Indian society suffers the malaise of caste- system based on untouchability and sense of purity. In Bombay Presidency Mahatma Phule had launched a movement against caste system. He realized that lack of education is the main handicap of the Untouchables. Hence in 1852 he started a school for untouchables in Pune. He wrote a well-argued book [Gulamgiri] to expose the caste system. In 1873 he started 'Satya Shodhak Samaj'. This shows his quest for truth. Phule never accepted the authority of Vedas. He was totally against idol-worship and recommended monotheism. At philosophical level, he gave a. new concept •Nirmile which means God has created universe and the human race which is equal in status. This logically leads to humanism. After Matama Phule,' Shahu Maharaj of Kolhapur must be mentioned for the important contribution towards abolition of caste. As King of Koihapur state, he had abolished 'Mahar vatan'. This was an age-o.rd practice of keeping Mahars in perpetual bondage to village community. He introduced reservations for the Dalits in 1902 in his state. Not only this, he established residential schools for Dalit students and also gave them scholarships to the deserving students. Like Shahu Maharaj, Maharshi:Vitthal Ramji Shinde the torch further. In 1906 He had established 'Depressed Classes Mission Society' to fight against untouchability. His efforts were untiring. He was associated with the Indian National Congress in this cause. Women-related problem: All over the world, the status of women has been inferior. The realization that this needs to be .changed came with modem- age. In India social reformers had made tremendous efforts to improve the lot of women. Even today these efforts continue as we can see from the debate on Women Reservation Bill. Till the social reforms began in the 19th century, the plight of women was beyond imagination. The entire society was under the sway of exploitative practices like Sati, child-marriage, no right to remarry, no property right, no education and employment opportunities. Polygamy,. Devdasi, purdah system were keeping them in permanent bondage. In this struggle, one name deserves a special mention. Behramji Malabari, a Parsi person fought to get Widow Remarriage Act passed. His achievement was Age of Consent Act. This started a tremendous and heated debate in our society. On pro-reformist leaders included Gopal Ganesh Aagarkar, Justice M.G. Ranade, Pandita Ramabai had started a school for girls in -Rune. Its curriculum became a hot topic. 5 Those days there were a large number of child, widows. They had no future, no life. They had to shave off their heads. Phule had opposed to the practice of tonsure.