Bombay Presidency took over Gujarat under its political authority excepting Vadodara state which maintained a direct relationship with the Governor-General of India. Gujarat including neighboring places like Kathiawar, Kutch as well as northern and eastern Gujarat were divided into dozens of princely states in 1818 to 1947. However other districts like those in central and southern Gujarat, namely Ahmedabad, Broach (Bharuch), Kaira, Panchmahals district and Surat, were ruled directly by British officials. During the administration of the British Raj the Indian independence movement remained very active in Gujarat. Mahatma Gandhi proved to be very instrumental in the freedom movement and stood as the greatest of all Gujarati Indian freedom fighters. Gandhiji was supported in his missions and by many other notable Gujarati Indian freedom fighters like Sardar Vallabhbhai Patel, Mahadev Desai, Morarji Desai, KM Munshi, Mohanlal Pandya, Narhari Parikh and Ravi Shankar Vyas. Mahatma Gandhi led his famous salt satyagraha from Gujarat. Modern Gujarat still shows the grit of such single minded dedication which has helped contemporary Gujarat to grow into an industrial powerhouse. After Indian independence and the Partition of India in 1947, the new Indian government assembled the states of Gujarat into three larger units; Saurashtra, Kutch, and Mumbai state. In 1956, Mumbai state was enlarged to include Kutch, Saurashtra, and parts of Hyderabad state and Madhya Pradesh in central India. It had a Gujarati speaking north and a Marathi speaking south. Mumbai state was finally demarcated into Gujarat and Maharashtra states. Modern Gujarat was thus formed with Ahmedabad as its capital. In 1970 the capital was moved to Gandhinagar. Thus Gandhinagar is the present capital of modern Gujarat. |