The Unification of Karnataka or Karnataka Ekikarana refers to the formation of the Indian state of Karnataka (then named Mysore State) in 1956 when several Indian states were created by redrawing borders based on linguistic demographics. Decades earlier during British rule, the demand for a state based on Kannada demographics had been made.
This meant that the Kannadigas in these regions, in spite of their large numbers, did not have an administrative patronage. Kannadigas in the Hubli-Karnataka region for example, came under the rule of the Bombay Presidency where Marathi was the official language. Those in the Hyderabad-Karnataka region came under the Nizam's rule where Urdu was the main language. Kannadigas in South Canara came under the rule from the Madras Presidency which used Tamil as their main language.
Under these conditions, a feeling of discontent began among Kannadigas outside Mysore. Thus, while the Kannadigas under the Nizam felt that Urdu was being forced on them at the expense of Kannada, those in the Bombay Presidency felt similarly concerning Marathi.[1] These areas also remained economically undeveloped. It was in these conditions that the movement that first started as a protest against linguistic oppression, began demanding the creation of a separate state consolidating all Kannada-speaking regions. This was called the Ekikarana or 'Unification' movement.
Role of North Karnataka
Almost the entire southern half of Karnataka was then under the Wodeyars of Mysore with Nalvadi Krishnaraja Wodeyar. The official language of the state was Kannada and the state was also one of the more progressive states of the day.[citation needed] Important protagonists of the Ekikarana movement including Aluru Venkata Rao were from northern parts of Karnataka. One of the earliest and most important organisations that was chosen to lead the movement, the Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha also began in Dharwad.
The Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha, Dharwad, was established in 1890. It was established by R. H. Deshpande with the objective of working for the resurgence of the Kannada language which had been marginalised under the rule of the Bombay Presidency where Marathi was the official language.[1] The Vidyavardhaka Sangha became the aegis under which leaders from all over Karnataka gathered to further their agitation. The influence and success of the Vidyavardhaka Sangha soon lead to more such organisations being set up throughout Karnataka. The most notable of these were the Kannada Sahitya Parishat (Bangalore) that was set up in 1915, the Karnataka Sangha (Shivamogga) that began in 1916.
Aluru Venkata Rao
Although resentment and protest had started as early as in 1856 and the Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha had been established in 1890, the movement took a dramatic turn with the arrival of Aluru Venkata Rao on the scene. Speaking at a meeting of the Sangha in 1903, Alur Venkata Rao made a case for integrating all Kannada regions of Madras Province and north Karnataka with Mysore kingdom. Aluru himself was inspired by the protests that followed the British partitioning of Bengal.
In 1907 and again in 1908, Rao organised the All-Karnataka Writers' Conference in Dharwad. Inspired by the Vidyavardhaka Sangha and the efforts of Deshpande, Aluru helped found the Kannada Sahitya Parishat in Bangalore in 1915. This Parishat found a patron in the ruler of Mysore. The Parishat began holding annual literary conferences (that continue today) in different parts of the state. Intellectuals from across the Kannada speaking regions attended these conferences. During the Home Rule Movement, Aluru floated the idea of a Karnataka 'Provincial' unit of the Indian National Congress. This soon took shape and the Karnataka Pradesh Congress committee was formed.
Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava
Amidst all this, Aluru published his most renowned achievement, the Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava in 1912. Karnataka Gatha Vaibhava literally means The glory that was Karnataka!. It was a book that recounted in detail the history of Karnataka until the fall of Vijayanagar after which the Marathas, Nizam and the British took over. The book impacted the young and old alike. The movement soon caught the imagination of the public and people started rallying around the Ekikarana movement and the movement picked up momentum. For all these efforts and for being the one who inspired a whole movement, Aluru is today remembered as the Kannada Kula Purohita or the 'High priest of the Kannada clan'.
Karnataka region in pre-independent India which belonged to five states of British India
Growth of the movement
Starting with Aluru's call for a Kannada linguistic state, the movement had slowly started gaining momentum and following. It was also around the time that the Indian independence movement was gathering momentum. Organisations in the movement began organising rallies, talks and conferences where demands for a separate state for Kannada speaking people was made.
Due to the efforts of these organisations and leaders, the movement not only gained in momentum but also attained a quasi-political influence. In 1920, Karnataka State Political Conference was held at Dharwad. At this conference, which was presided over by V P Madhav Rao, a unanimous resolution was passed demanding the unification of all Kannada speaking areas. The conference also advised Kannadigas to attend the Nagpur Congress to be held later that year in large numbers. Almost 800 delegates attended the Nagpur conference where the Indian National Congress made the decision to create the Karnataka Pradesh Congress Committee. This aided the movement and leaders of the Congress like S Nijalingappa and Kengal Hanumanthaiah (both of whom went on to become Chief Ministers of Karnataka) and Gudleppa Hallikeri also served as active members of the movement.
1924 Belgaum Conference
In 1924, the Belgaum congress was held under the aegis of the newly formed Karnataka Pradesh Congress committee arm of the INC. Mahatma Gandhi presided over this historic conference. This conference was attended by Kannadigas from all parts in large numbers. The first Karnataka Unification Conference was also organised at the same venue. This was presided over by Siddappa Kambli.
These two conferences were attended by a significant number of leaders, writers, poets and intellectuals from Karnataka. It was here that Huilgol Narayana Rao first sang his Udayavagali namma cheluva kannada nadu, which meant Let our charming Kannada land dawn!. The INC lent formal support to the cause; this was the first time the movement had explicit political support. As a result of these conferences, the Karnataka Ekikarana Sabha which was to work in collaboration with the KPCC began with the objective of the unification of Karnataka. The Karnataka Ekikarana Sabha later came to be known as the Karnataka Ekikarana Sangha.
Nehru committee recommendation
In 1928, due to the efforts of Gudleppa Hallikeri, the formation of a single province by uniting all Kannada speaking areas was recommended by the Nehru Committee. It was stated by the committee that there was a "strong prima facie case for unification". It also went on to state that it believed Karnataka could also be a financially strong province. This recommendation aided the movement. There was later support from literary figures like Kuvempu, Bendre, Gokak, S B Joshi, Betgeri Krishna Sharma, M Govinda Pai, Shivarama Karanth and Kayyara Kiyyanna Rai. There was also widespread support growing from the newspapers and media. Several smaller public and college organisations also began, notably in Bengaluru, Shivamogga and Raichur.
1937 elections
Following the Simon Commission, elections were held in 1937. The Congress said it would favour the formation of the separate Karnataka and Andhra states. This was met with some resistance from the British and also some of the princely states. While the princely states feared that they might stand to lose some territory, the British themselves were unsure of how they would handle the reorganisation.
Siddappa Kambli sensing the reluctance, decided that the movement had to approach the Simon Commission with their case. But the other leaders of the movement like Gangadharrao Deshpande, Rangarao Diwakar, Koujalgi Srinivasarao and Aluru advised him not to do so as they had boycotted the commission. Gudlappa Hallikeri invited the Maharaja of Mysore to tour the Kannada speaking provinces of Bombay and Hyderabad. After the tour and several discussions the movement gained his active support.
1946 conference
The tenth conference of the Ekikarana movement was held on 10 January 1946 in Mumbai. This conference was inaugurated by Sardar Patel and attended by the likes of B. G. Kher, the then Chief Minister of Bombay presidency. In his speech at the conference, Sardar Patel stated that the interests of all linguistic groups would be high on the list of priorities for the new government of independent India. This served to reduce the apprehensions of the movement leaders and the common people. This was also to have a bearing on the constituent assembly that met in the same year.
In the same year, the All-Karnataka convention, a gathering of Kannadigas was held in Davanagere, in central Karnataka. This was presided over by Mr. M P Patil, the revenue minister of Mumbai. This convention attracted tens of thousands of Kannadigas from Karnataka. Leaders like Gudlappa Hallikeri, Kengal Hanumanthaiah, T Mariyappa, Subramanya, Sowcar Chennaiah, H K Veerangowda, H C Dasappa and H. Siddaiah attended this convention and urged the constituent assembly to create the linguistic states.
Post Independence
Political Divisions of Karnataka post Independence.
India soon gained independence in 1947. The new government soon began delaying concerning the Karnataka Ekikarana movement. Kannada speaking areas were now grouped under five administrative units of the Bombay and Madras provinces, Kodagu, and the princely states of Mysore and Hyderabad. The Akhila Karnataka Ekikarana Parishat met in Kasargod and reiterated the demand for a separate state for Kannadigas.
Opposition by Mysore State
Ironically, the state of Mysore and several politicians opposed unification of Karnataka, on the pretext that Mysore state has fertile lands, more developed and present North Karnataka was not developed with large area of dry land.[3]
Liberation of Hyderabad-Karnataka
While Karnataka became independent with the rest of the country on 15 August 1947, this did not occur in some parts of the state that were under the rule of the Nizam of Hyderabad. Hyderabad consisted of large portions of what were later to be the north eastern districts of Bidar, Kalaburagi and Raichur of Karnataka state. The Lingayat minority in these regions also largely believed that they had been neglected and resented the oppression of the Nizam and the Razakars. The Nizam refused to accede to India until his rule was overthrown by force. Following the 'police action' against the Nizam, Hyderabad province and its citizens became independent on 17 September 1948. This day is celebrated by the Karnataka government as the Hyderabad-Karnataka liberation day.[4]
The Dhar and JVP committee
In the same year, the government appointed the Dhar commission to look into the demands of the Ekikarana movement as well as those of the other parallel movements in the other states. The Dhar commission in its report, opposed any reorganisation of the states. This was criticised by all quarters including the Jaipur Congress.
The government now formed the 'JVP' committee. This committee had Jawaharlal Nehru, Vallabhbhai Patel and Pattabhi Sitaramayya on the board. This committee examined the demands again and created a report. The JVP report, however, favoured only the creation of the Andhra state while the Karnataka Ekikarana movement was deliberately ignored. The Ekikarana movement saw this as a betrayal of the Congress which had declared the creation of linguistic provinces as one of its goals in its 1951 manifesto.
The movement now formed the Karnataka Ekikarana Paksha to contest the 1951 polls. This was supported by literary figures as well as politicians like Gudlappa Hallikeri, Kengal Hanumantayya, S Nijalingappa and C M Poonacha, the Chief Minister of Kodagu.
In January 1953, at the Congress session in Hyderabad, a resolution was also passed favouring the creation of Andhra Pradesh but not Karnataka. A. J. Doddameti, a senior Congress leader and the member of the Bombay assembly, immediately resigned from his seat and launched a hunger strike at Jakkali in Dharwad. This was widely supported. In the riots at Hubli that followed, many people were injured and several courted arrest.
In the Hubli-Dharwad by-elections that followed, the Congress were defeated while the Karnataka Ekikarana Paksha's candidate won by a landslide. Under pressure, Prime Minister Nehru constituted the States Reorganisation Commission (SRC), also known as the Fazal Ali commission due to being headed by Justice Fazal Ali. At the same time, the Mysore government appointed a fact-finding committee, headed by M. Sheshadri. The SRC opposed the unification but its findings were ignored due to overwhelming support in favour from Mysoreans such as Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya.
Congress leader Gudlappa Hallikeri furthered the cause of unification within his party by advocating for states based on linguistic demographics. He also represented and urged unification in front of the SRC. The SRC eventually recommended the reorganisation of the states based on linguistic demographics and this was soon ratified in parliament.
The ratification in parliament of the recommendations of the SRC was reacted to positively by Kannadiga people, although there was also disappointment at the non-inclusion of certain parts of Mysore state. Most notable among the excluded areas was Kasargod, which had been one of the centres from which the Ekikarana movement had launched its agitation. This is an issue that continues to affect those who fought for the unification of Karnataka.
On 1 November 1973, under Devaraj Urs as Chief Minister, Mysore state was renamed as Karnataka.
Ekikarana Awards
To mark the celebrations of the 50th year of Karnataka's unification, the state government headed by the then Chief Minister H D Kumarswamy awarded 36 individuals and 4 organisations with the Ekikarana Award for the service they had rendered for uniting Karnataka.
Hyderabad State was a princely state located in the south-central Deccan region of India with its capital at the city of Hyderabad. It is now divided into the present-day state of Telangana, the Kalyana-Karnataka region of Karnataka, and the Marathwada region of Maharashtra in India.
The Kannadigas or Kannaḍigaru, often referred to as Kannada people, are a Dravidian ethno-linguistic group who natively speak Kannada and trace their ancestry to the South Indian state of Karnataka in India and its surrounding regions. The Kannada language belongs to the Dravidian family of languages. Kannada stands among 30 of the most widely spoken languages of the world as of 2001.
Mysore State, colloquially Old Mysore, was a state within the Dominion of India and the subsequent Republic of India from 1947 until 1956. The state was formed by renaming the Kingdom of Mysore, and Bangalore replaced Mysore as the state's capital. When Parliament passed the States Reorganisation Act in 1956, Mysore State was considerably enlarged when it became a linguistically homogeneous Kannada-speaking state within the Republic of India by incorporating territories from Andhra, Bombay, Coorg, Hyderabad, and Madras States, as well as other petty fiefdoms. It was subsequently renamed Karnataka in 1973.
Kannada Saahithya Parishath is an Indian non-profit organisation that promotes the Kannada language and its literature. Its headquarters are in the city of Bengaluru in the state of Karnataka, India. It strives to promote Kannada language through publishing books, organising literary seminars and promoting research projects. It also organises an annual conference on Kannada literature called Kannada Sahithya Sammelana. The current president of the parishat is Dr. Mahesh joshi.
The Kannada Sahitya Sammelana is the premier gathering of writers, poets and Kannadigas. It is held with the aim of preserving and developing the Kannada language, its literature, art, culture and music. It was started in 1915 by H. V. Nanjundaiah and held at Bangalore. It used to be inaugurated by prominent writers and poets from 1915 to 1948. Since then it has been inaugurated by the Chief Minister of Karnataka. The Kannada Sahitya Parishat is responsible for holding the gathering.
Karnataka Rajyotsava, also known as Karnataka State Day, is a public holiday celebrated annually on 1 November in the Indian state of Karnataka. It commemorates the merger in 1956 of the Kannada-speaking regions of southwestern India under the States Reorganisation Act to form the state.
Kengal Hanumanthaiah, also spelt as Kengal Hanumanthaiya, was the second Chief Minister of Karnataka from 30 March 1952 to 19 August 1956. He contributed to the construction of Vidhana Soudha, the seat of the state legislature.
North Karnataka is a geographical region in Deccan plateau from 300 to 730 metres elevation that constitutes the region of the Karnataka state in India and the region consists of 13 districts. It is drained by the Krishna River and its tributaries the Bhima, Ghataprabha, Malaprabha, and Tungabhadra. North Karnataka lies within the Deccan thorn scrub forests ecoregion, which extends north into eastern Maharashtra.
The History of Karnataka goes back several millennia. Several great empires and dynasties have ruled over Karnataka and have contributed greatly to the history, culture and development of Karnataka as well as the entire Indian subcontinent. The Chindaka Nagas of central India Gangas, Rashtrakutas of Manyakheta, Chalukyas of Vengi, Yadava Dynasty of Devagiri were all of Kannada origin who later took to encouraging local languages.
Aluru Venkata Rao was an Indian historian, writer and journalist. He is revered as Karnataka Kulapurohita in the Karnataka region for his contribution towards the cause of a separate Karnataka state. He became famous for undertaking a Karnataka Ekikarana movement in support of the formation of a state for the Kannada-speaking population of Mysore, Bombay Presidency and the Nizam's Hyderabad.
The Karnataka Vidyavardhaka Sangha was an institution established on 20 July 1890 by Sri R H Deshpande in Dharwad, India which was then under the British rule of Bombay Presidency. This institution was established with the sole objective of promoting Kannada culture and language in times when the Kannada speaking regions of present day Karnataka were split into six different areas, where Kannada was often overshadowed by other languages. Soon the Sangha morphed into a hub for the Karnataka Ekikarana (Unification) movement and played a pivotal role in the eventual unification of Karnataka. It inspired the establishment of several institutions and organisations across the state. For its invaluable services and contributions to Kannada and Karnataka, this institution was awarded the Ekikarana Award by the Government of Karnataka on the occasion of the 50th year celebrations of Karnataka state in 2006.
Theerthapura Nanjundaiah Srikantaiah commonly known as 'Thee. Nam. Shree., was a Kannada poet, essayist, editor, translator, linguist and teacher. He was awarded the Pampa Prashasthi for his work on the history and tradition of Indian poetics spanning two millennia titled Bharathiya Kavyamimamse. T. N. Srikantaiah was instrumental in preparing and publishing the Kannada version of Constitution of India in 1952. He is credited with the use of the vernacular equivalent of Rashtrapathi for the English 'President', a usage which is still in vogue. Srikantaiah was responsible for guiding the doctoral theses of Kannada litterateurs like S. Anantanarayan and M. Chidananda Murthy. An active participant in the Kannada Dictionary Project, Srikantaiah later laid the foundations for the Post Graduate Department at Manasa Gangotri campus at University of Mysore.
Nittoor Srinivasa Rao or Nittur Srinivasa Rao was a Gandhian who participated in the Indian independence movement. He was the Chief Justice of the High Court of Mysore State and also the first chief of the Central Vigilance Commission of India. He was also chosen as the acting Governor of the Mysore state and was the first person to translate Mahatma Gandhi's autobiography to the Kannada language.
Holealur also spelled as Holealooru is a Large village in the Ron taluk of Gadag district in the Indian state of Karnataka.
B. M. Idinabba was a prominent Kannada poet, journalist, freedom fighter, politician and a Kannada activist from Karnataka. He was a member of Congress party and was elected as a MLA three times in the Karnataka state assembly from Ullal constituency. He was one of the activists who fought for the unification of the Kasaragod district of Kerala into the Karnataka state. He has got the credit of being the first president of the Beary Sahithya Sammelana. He has received many prestigious awards including Rajyotsava Prashasti.
The Kannada flag, a bicolour of yellow and red, symbolises both Kannada and Karnataka, although it doesn't have any official status and it isn't recognized as a state flag by the Government of India.
Sir Mokshagundam Visvesvaraya, also referred to by his initials, MV, was an Indian civil engineer, administrator, and statesman, who served as the 19th Dewan of Mysore from 1912 to 1918.
Sarojini Bindurao Mahishi was an Indian teacher, lawyer, activist and politician. She was the first woman Member of Parliament from the State of Karnataka, who represented the constituency Dharwad North for four terms between 1962 and 1980. In 1983 she was elected to the Rajya Sabha as member of the Janata Party.
Patil Puttappa was an Indian writer, veteran journalist and activist based in Hubli, India. He was the founder-editor of the now-defunct Kannada daily Vishwavani and weekly Prapancha.
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