THOUGHTS ON LINGUISTIC STATES 161
may not take it seriously. But there are other arguments which arise out of the present condition and which cannot be ignored. I mention a few.
My first argument is that a single Government cannot administer such a huge State as United Maharashtra.
The total population of the Marathi-speaking area is 3,30,83,490. The total area occupied by the Marathi-speaking people is 1,74,514 sq. miles. It is a vast area and it is impossible to have efficient administration by a single State. Maharashtrians who talk about Samyukta Maharashtra have no conception of the vastness as to the area and population of their Maharashtra. But why there should be one single Maharashtrian State. I am quite unable to understand. To have a separate Maharashtra State is one thing. To have a single. Maharashtra State is quite a different thing. I am in favour of a separate Maharashtra, separate from Gujarathis and separate from Hindi-speaking people. But I am unable to understand why a free Maharashtra should be made into one single State. The Maharashtrians are not planning to declare war on U.P. and therefore they need not have a common front.
Even from the point of view of Marathas why should there be this consolidation ? What affiliation has a Maratha of Satara got with the Maratha of Aurangabad ? What affiliation has a Maratha of Nasik got with the Maratha of Ratnagiri? What care and interest a Maratha of Satara is going to bestow upon the problems of the Maratha of Aurangabad ? What care and interest a Maratha of Nasik is going to bestow upon the problems of the Maratha of Ratnagiri ? The consolidation has no meaning and can serve no purpose.
All Maratha Ministers in the present Bombay Cabinet come from Satara District or Nasik District. There is none from Konkan.
The second consideration is the economic inequality between the three parts of Maharashtra. Marathwada has been solely neglected by the Nizam. What guarantee is there that the other two Maharashtras will look after the interests of what I call the Central Maharashtra ?
The third consideration is industrial inequality between the three parts of Maharashtra. Western Maharashtra and Eastern Maharashtra are industrially well developed. What about the Central Maharashtra ? What guarantee is there of its industrial development ? Will Western Maharashtra and Eastern Maharashtra take interest in the industrial development of Central Maharashtra ?
The fourth consideration is the inequality of education between Eastern and Western Maharashtra on the one hand and Central Maharashtra on the other. The inequality between them is marked. If the Central Maharashtra goes under the Poona University its destiny is doomed.