THOUGHTS ON LINGUISTIC STATES 155
III
THE POSITION OF THE CITY OF BOMBAY
The Bombay City is an area which is a subject matter of controversy. The controversy has become very acute.
Maharashtrians want the City to be part of Maharashtra, Gujarathis want the City to be a separate State. Heads have been broken over the controversy. But there has been no agreement. It is therefore necessary to go to the root of the matter.
The Gujarathis do not claim Bombay City as their own. But will not let go their hold on it. They claim a sort of easement over it by reason of the fact that they control the trade and industry of the City. The issue is : should it become part of Maharashtra or should it be constituted into a separate State ? The Gujarathis and Maharashtrians are sharply divided on the issue. The Maharashtrians want that Bombay should become exclusively a part of the new Maharashtra State. The Gujarathis are stoutly opposed to it. They have presented two alternatives. One alternative is not to break up the existing bi-lingual State of Bombay into two linguistic units of Gujarath and Maharashtra. The Congress Working Committee’s decision is to make the city of Bombay into a separate State.
The Gujarathis are happy. The Maharashtrians are naturally angry.
The resentment of the Maharashtrians is well justified. The arguments urged against the claim of the Maharashtrians have no force at all.
The first argument that is urged is that the Marathi-speaking population of Bombay City does not form a majority of the total population of the City. The total population of Bombay City is very large ( See Statistical Appendix). Marathi-speaking population is 48 per cent.
Those who use this kind of argument do not seem to realize the weakness of it
The total Marathi population of Bombay City is no doubt less than
50 per cent but it has to be valued against two factors. One is that geographically no one can deny that Bombay is part of Maharashtra even if the Maharashtrians are in a minority in the City. Even Mr. Morarji Desai admitted in the course of his speech in the meeting of the Gujarath Pradesh Congress Committee that Bombay is part of Maharashtra.
The second point to be taken into consideration in valuing the population factor is the continued influx of population from the rest of India who come to Bombay either for making profits or for earning their bread. None of them regard Bombay as their home ; they should not therefore be counted as permanent residents of Bombay City. Many come for a few months and go back.