Madhya Pradesh[a] retrospectively referred to as United Madhya Pradesh or Undivided Madhya Pradesh, was a state in central India from 1956 until its bifurcation in 2000, when the new state of Chhattisgarh was created from its southeastern regions.[2][3] It was the largest Indian state by area and played a significant role in the administrative and political landscape of independent India during its existence.
Bhopal was selected as the capital, primarily for administrative neutrality and readiness.[1] Other contenders included Gwalior, Indore, and Jabalpur.[6]
Undivided Madhya Pradesh was the "heart of India," with a land area of 443,446km2.[8] It stretched 996km east–west and 1,127km north–south, sharing borders with Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Maharashtra, Gujarat, and Orissa (now Odisha), and, after 2000, Chhattisgarh.[9]
The state encompassed several physiographic regions:
At bifurcation in 2000, the state had 45 districts, 8 revenue divisions, and key cities included Bhopal (capital), Indore (largest city), Gwalior, Jabalpur, Ujjain, and Rewa.
Demographics
Population Growth
Population of Undivided Madhya Pradesh (select censuses)
Hindi, in the Devanagari script, was adopted as the official language of Madhya Pradesh by the State Official Language Act, 1957.[13][14] About 85.5% of the population reported Hindi or its dialects as mother tongue in the 1991 census.[15] Major Hindi dialects and related languages included Malvi, Nimadi, Bundeli, Bagheli; tribal and minority groups widely spoke Gondi, Bhili, Korku, Bengali, Marathi, Urdu, Sindhi, and Gujarati.[10]
The movement for a separate Chhattisgarh state was rooted in the region's unique cultural identity, historic tribal presence, and persistent economic grievances within undivided Madhya Pradesh. Early demands emerged as far back as the 1920s, with the Raipur Congress unit formally raising the issue in 1924 and subsequent debates surfacing during the Indian National Congress session at Tripuri and before the States Reorganisation Commission in the 1950s.[26][circular reference][27] The movement gained new momentum in the 1990s, particularly with the rise of organizations like Chhattisgarh Rajya Nirman Manch, which mobilized popular support through public rallies, strikes, and multi-party coordination.[28] Both the Indian National Congress and Bharatiya Janata Party eventually endorsed the call for statehood, and a resolution supporting separate Chhattisgarh was unanimously passed in the Madhya Pradesh Assembly in 1994. During the 1999 Indian general elections, Atal Bihari Vajpayee promised the creation of Chhattisgarh state if his party received electoral support from the region. He famously appealed to voters with the slogan: Aap mujhe Chhattisgarh ki 11 seat dijiye, main aapko Chhattisgarh dunga (“Give me Chhattisgarh’s 11 Loksabha seats, and I will give you Chhattisgarh”).[29] Later, Madhya Pradesh Reorganisation Act was approved by the Parliament and signed by the President of India on 25 August 2000, leading to the official creation of Chhattisgarh as the country's 26th state on 1 November 2000.[26]
Legacy
The bifurcation in 2000 addressed aspirations for focused development in resource-rich, tribal-dominated Chhattisgarh.[2]
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