Formation of Haryana as a Separate State: After the revolt of 1857, the British Government included much part of the state of Haryana in the Punjab province in the year 1858. Demand for separate state of Haryana was started from 1907. This demand was supported by Lala Lajpat Rai and Aruna Asaf Ali, the prominent leaders of the Indian National Movement.
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The history of Haryana can be traced from various sources like mythological sources, archaeological sources, monetary sources etc. The state has many sites belonging to the Indus Valley Civilisation which flourished well in the state e.g. Banawali, Daulatpur, Bhagwanpur, etc. It also remained a place of many dynasties.
Haryana came into existence as a separate state on 1st November, 1966 but its history is very old. According to Manusmriti, the state got its origin by many deities, thus, it was earlier known as Brahmavrat. Haryana is also known as Brahmrishi Pradesh and Uttarvedi of Brahma.
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Formation of Haryana as a Separate State
After some time, Haryana Development Committee was formed under the Chairmanship of Shri Ram Sharma to form an autonomous Haryana state. However, this effort was not successful.
The demand for separation of Haryana region from Punjab province and merging with Delhi was made for the first time in 1926 at the Delhi Session of the All India Muslim League by the Chairman of the Swagat Committee, Pirzada Muhammad Hussain.
The Delhi Region Congress Committee made this demand again at the All-Party Conference held in Delhi in the year 1928.
In the Second Round Table Conference, Geoffrey Corbett also talks about separating the Ambala Division (Haryana) from Punjab. Gandhiji also supported it.
On 9th December, 1932, Deenbandhu Gupta also demanded for a separate state of Haryana from the province of Punjab.
Congress leader Dr Pattabhi Sitaramayya supported Deenbandhu Gupta’s demand for a separate Haryana at the All-India Linguistic Conference held in 1946 in Delhi.
Read more: Ancient History of Haryana
Sachar Formula
On 1st October, 1949, the then Punjab Chief Minister, Shri Bhimsen Sacchar introduced the Sachar Formula to solve the problem of linguistic reorganisation of Punjab.
State Reorganisation Commission
On 29th December, 1953, the Indian Government set up a commission under the Chairmanship of Syed Fazal Ali for suggesting the reorganisation of states on linguistic and cultural basis. This commission was also known as Syed Fazal Ali Commission.
The commission presented its report in September, 1995. The commission rejected the demand of reorganisation of states on linguistic and cultural basis.
In April, 1955 the Congress MLAs of Haryana region, who came to Rohtak to determine the boundary of the state, demanded the separate state of Haryana before the State Reorganisation Commission.
Read more: Medieval History of Haryana
Failure of Regional Formula and Saint Fateh Singh
In 1956, the then Punjab Chief Minister Pratap Singh Kairo did not successfully implemented the Regional Formula. He limited the powers of the regional committees and their freedom to work was almost ended, as a result of which this formula was not completely successful.
In 1965, Akali Dal leader Saint Fateh Singh announced a 15-day Hunger Strike for the Punjabi Province, which also got a response in the Haryana region and a separate Haryana Province was demanded.
Saint Fateh Singh postponed his fast due to the war with Pakistan. After the war, he again announced a 25-day fast on 10th August, 1965.
On 23rd September 1965, the Government of India constituted a Parliamentary Committee under the Chairmanship of Lok Sabha Speaker Hukum Singh to consider the partition of Punjab.
Shah Commission
The Government of India constituted a three-member Shah Commission on 23rd April, 1966. It was headed by Supreme Court Judge JC Shah and the other members included S Dutt and MM Philip. The name of this commission was named Shah Commission after JC Shah.
The Punjab Border Commission submitted its report on 31st May, 1966, which suggested the inclusion of Kharar (including Chandigarh), Naraingarh and Jagadhri (Ambala) tehsils in Haryana along with the Hindi speaking area. S. Dutt was not in favour of including Kharar and Chandigarh in Haryana.
Read more: Modern History of Haryana
Formation of Haryana as a New State
As per proposal from JC Shah, Government of India approved Punjab Reorganisation Bill on 18th September, 1966.
The Punjab Reorganisation Bill was introduced in the Lok Sabha by Gulzarilal Nanda, the then Home Minister.
- It was also decided as per Article 21, that the two states of Haryana and Punjab would have a common High Court called the Punjab and Haryana High Court.
- Haryana was formed as the 17th State of India on 1st November, 1966 under the 18th Amendment (1966) of the Indian Constitution.
- At the time of formation, Haryana had seven districts. These seven districts were Hisar, Karnal, Gurugram, Rohtak, Ambala, Mahendragarh and Jind.
At the time of formation of Haryana, the largest district was Hisar (13891 sq km) and the smallest district was Jind (2712 sq km).
Shri Dharamvir was appointed as the first Governor of Haryana and Pandit Bhagwat Dayal Sharma was made the first Chief Minister of Haryana.
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