Formation of Haryana

The area comprising the present state of Haryana was ceded to the British East India Company in 1803.

In 1832 it was transferred to the then North-Western Provinces of British India and in 1858 Haryana became part of Punjab.

Due to the repressive policy of the British government, there was no significant development in the field of education, trade, industry, means of communication and irrigation in this region. As a result it remained backward in the 19th century.

The union between Haryana and Punjab was peculiar, mainly due to religious and linguistic differences between the two regions: the Punjabi-speaking Sikhs of Punjab, and the Hindi-speaking Hindus of Haryana.

With the transfer of the capital of India from Calcutta to Delhi on December 12, 1911, the Haryana region was further separated.

In the 1920s, some changes in the Delhi district were made by the Muslim League and the people of the area, recommended by the Commissioner of Delhi, Sir J.P. Thomson. 

In 1928, the all-party conference in Delhi again demanded the expansion of the boundaries of Delhi.

In addition, the movement for a separate state of Haryana was led by Lala Lajpat Rai and Asaf Ali, both prominent figures in the Indian national movement, as well as Neki Ram Sharma, who worked to develop the concept of an autonomous state headed a committee.

In the Second Round Table Conference in 1931, Sir Geoffrey Corbert, the Financial Commissioner of the Government of Punjab and Secretary of the Indian delegation to the Round Table Conference, suggested the reorganization of the boundaries of Punjab and the separation of Ambala Division from Punjab.

In 1932, Deshbandhu Gupta stated that "the Hindi-speaking region had never been a part of Punjab. For the development of this region it was necessary to separate it from Punjab and to annex Delhi, some adjoining parts of Rajasthan. A new state should be created.

When India became independent in 1947 and only 19 years after independence, Haryana was formed as a state. At the time of the country's independence, Haryana was a part of Punjab state, but only a few years after the country's independence, the demand for a separate state on linguistic basis began to arise in the state.

The people of the state started realizing that they were being neglected and not given due importance in Punjab. The people of Haryana realized that even the administrative work of Punjab is not being heard by them. Due to all these reasons, the demand for Haryana state started rising during the reign of Pratap Singh Kairo in Punjab. On the other hand, Lala Deshbandhu Gupta and Asaf Ali were also demanding 'Greater Delhi' in which Haryana was suggested to be included. 

Punjabi language is not considered as state language

In 1955, the Government of India established the States Reorganization Commission, whose task was to demarcate the provinces on linguistic basis. But this commission also rejected the demand for the partition of Punjab.

But the States Reorganization Commission recommended the inclusion of Patiala and East Punjab states in the Punjab region and Mahendragarh and Jind in the Haryana region. But the real problem remained the same as Haryana was mostly Hindi speaking and was not at all ready to accept Punjabi language as the state language and the basis of education. 

Punjab Reorganization Act

On 23 September 1965, the Government of India constituted the Shah Commission, a parliamentary committee to consider the partition of Punjab under the chairmanship of the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, Sardar Hukum Singh.

The commission gave its report on 31 May 1966. According to this report the erstwhile districts of Hisar, Mahendragarh, Gurgaon, Rohtak and Karnal were to become part of the new state of Haryana. In addition, the tehsils of Jind (District Sangrur), Narwana (District Sangrur), Narayangarh, Ambala and Jagadhri were also to be included.

Based on the recommendation of the committee, the government constituted the Punjab Boundary Commission under the chairmanship of Shri Jayantilal Chhotalal Shah, Judge of the Supreme Court in March 1966. After demarcation of Punjab by the commission, in September 1966, the Parliament passed the Punjab Reorganization Act. Thus, after a long struggle, the state of Haryana was formed on November 1, 1966 as the seventeenth (17th) state.

Government of Haryana formed

Shri Dharamvir was appointed as the first Governor of the state. The Governor, on the advice of the President, did not hold elections in the state at that time and formed the Haryana Legislative Assembly with the MLAs of Haryana from the Punjab Legislative Assembly. At that time, Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma was made the first Chief Minister of the state after the Congress MLAs who came out of the ruling Congress party in the state of Punjab chose Pt. Bhagwat Dayal Sharma as their leader in the newly formed Haryana Legislative Assembly.

In the 1967 general elections, the Congress got 48 out of 81 seats in the Legislative Assembly while the Congress got seven out of nine seats in the Lok Sabha. Shri Bhagwat Dayal Sharma again became the Chief Minister. But after seven days due to internal strife within the party, Congress candidate Dayakishan had to be defeated by Vishal Haryana Party candidate Rao Virendra Singh in the election of Speaker of Legislative Assembly.

Shri Dayakishan got 37 votes and Rao Virendra Singh got 40 votes. Thus the Haryana Government was formed.

Events with important Information related to Formation of Haryana