Formation of Haryana

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After Independence, it was felt that our political units lacked linguistic and cultural synthesis: they ought to be restructured mainly on the basis of language. In northern India, the Akali Dal advocated the cause for a separate Punjabi speaking State on the grounds that Punjabis have a distinctive culture and a common mother tongue. This was the beginning of the genesis of a State called Haryana. Going into the history of Haryana, Gulshan Rai has delineated details of the origin of the word 'Haryana', its land and its people. He has given a well-rounded account of the various Committees which were appointed to study the justification for the formation of Haryana and the heterogeneous factors that led to the development of the State. The author says that there was strong opposition to the idea in several sections. However, "Within Haryana a strong perception for Haryana as a region and a strong feeling of identification with it had developed." It was on the basis of the Report of the Punjabi Boundary Commission, set up on 23 April 1966, that the Union Government agreed to the formation of Haryana as a separate State. Thus Haryana came into existence on 1 November 1966. The book has been written in an extremely lucid style. It is well-researched and the author's analysis is incisive.

Gulshan Rai (born 1936) did his MA in Political Science in 1957 and subsequently obtained an MA degree in History in 1959 from the Delhi University. He joined as a Lecturer of Political Science in C.R.A. College, Sonepat in 1959 and became Head of the Department in 1974. In 1981, he obtained his Ph.D. degree from M.D. University, Rohtak. He has written several books for undergraduate students.

The coming of Independence in 1947 coincided with the partition of the country. Both these events were the culmination of a process which nurtured a fundamental contradiction. If the long colonial rule stimulated, instilled and reinforced a sense of nationality as a collective resolve to acquire self- government, the national movement for freedom pointed to the fragility of national unity. Together with the growing intensity of the freedom movement, the separatist tendencies manifesting in communalism, regionalism, language, etc. also grew stronger. It is this contradiction inherent in the nationalist movement that terminated in Independence, to be sure but at a great cost. Paradoxically, the contradiction continued even after Independence even while its character changed. The claim for the reorganization of states is just one but very important manifestation. The agitation for a separate Andhra Pradesh, appointment of the States Reorganization Commission and the subsequent reorganization of states on linguistic basis consti- tuted the second incarnation of separatist tendency The third stage pertains to the division of the erstwhile composite Punjab into two distinct entities-Punjab and Haryana. It is the story of this third stage that Professor Gulshan Rai recounts in this book. After a careful, extensive and pains- taking perusal of voluminous information-both published and unpublished-the author has put together a study which locates the formation of Haryana in the interface of both internal and external factors, political forces, leadership motiva- tions and struggle for power. The author makes use of both historical and contemporary facts for sketching the career of a movement whose long shadow still darkens Indian political landscape. Professor Rai has told this story objectively, competently, and conscientiously. His use of information is skilful, his analysis penetrating and his theoretical perspective appropriate. His way of presentation renders a very complex process quite comprehensible. I am sure, the book will be very useful to those who have an interest in such movements, in particular, and Indian politics, in general.

**Contents and Sample Pages**