The Bombay Reorganisation Act, which divided the bilingual Bombay State into the states of Maharashtra and Gujarat, was passed in:

The Bombay Reorganisation Act was passed by Parliament in 1960; under it, the bilingual Bombay State was divided into two states, Maharashtra and Gujarat, which came into existence on 1 May 1960.

Background:

• Under the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, a large bilingual Bombay State was formed, including the Marathi-speaking and Gujarati-speaking areas.
• Both the Marathi-speaking and the Gujarati-speaking people were unhappy with this arrangement.

The Samyukta Maharashtra Movement:

The Samyukta Maharashtra Samiti demanded a separate state for Marathi-speaking people, with Bombay as its capital.

Leaders included S. M. Joshi, S. A. Dange, Acharya Atre, Prabodhankar Thackeray and others.

In police firing in Bombay in 1955-56, many protesters were killed; the Hutatma Chowk (Martyrs' Square) in Mumbai commemorates them.

The Mahagujarat Movement:

• The Mahagujarat Movement demanded a separate state for Gujarati-speaking people.
• It was led by student groups and local political leaders of Gujarat.

Formation of the two states:

• On 1 May 1960, the state of Maharashtra was formed, with Bombay as its capital.
• On the same day, the state of Gujarat was formed, with Ahmedabad as its first capital.
• Gandhinagar later became the capital of Gujarat.
• 1 May is celebrated as "Maharashtra Day" and "Gujarat Day".

First Chief Ministers:

• Maharashtra: Yashwantrao Chavan.
• Gujarat: Jivraj Mehta.

Other reorganisations of states:

• Andhra State (1953) was the first state formed on the basis of language.
• Nagaland (1963) was formed as the 16th state.
• Punjab was reorganised by the Punjab Reorganisation Act (1966), forming Haryana.
• Meghalaya, Manipur and Tripura became states in 1972.

Why not the other options?

• ✗1956 was the year of the States Reorganisation Act; 1966 was the year of the Punjab reorganisation; 1972 was the year in which some north-eastern states were formed.