Indian Independence Movement
The people of Gujarat were the most enthusiastic participants
of India's struggle for freedom. Leaders like Mahatma Gandhi,
Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Morarji Desai, K.M. Munshi, Narhari
Parikh, Mahadev Desai, Mohanlal Pandya and Ravi Shankar
Vyas all hailed from Gujarat. It was also the site of the
most number of popular revolts, including the Satyagrahas
in Kheda, Bardoli, Borsad and the Salt Satyagraha.
Post Independence
After Indian independence and the partition of India in
1947, the new Indian government grouped the former princely
states of Gujarat into three larger units; Saurashtra, which
included the former princely states on the Kathiawar peninsula,
Kutch, and Bombay state, which included the former British
districts of Bombay Presidency together with most of Baroda
state and the other former princely states of eastern Gujarat.
In 1956, Bombay state was enlarged to include Kutch, Saurashtra,
and parts of Hyderabad state and Madhya Pradesh in central
India. The new state had a mostly Gujarati-speaking north
and a Marathi-speaking south. Agitation by Marathi nationalists
for their own state led to the split of Bombay state on
linguistic lines; on 1 May 1960, it became the new states
of Gujarat and Maharashtra. The first capital of Gujarat
was Ahmedabad; the capital was moved to Gandhinagar in 1970.
Gujarat was hit with a devastating earthquake on January
26, 2001 at 9:00am claiming a staggering 20,000 lives, injuring
another 200,000 people and severely affecting the lives
of 40 million Gujaratis. The economic and financial loss
to Gujarat and India was deeply felt for years to come.
It was also the site of one of the worst outbreaks of communal
violence between Hindus and Muslims, which left over 1,000
people dead.
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