New Delhi, 1 November: Several Indian states marked their formation anniversaries on Sunday, making 1 November one of the most widely shared dates on the country’s federal calendar. State foundation days on this date trace back to the States Reorganisation Act of 1956, which redrew India’s internal boundaries largely along linguistic lines and brought several new states into existence on the same day. Karnataka, Kerala, Madhya Pradesh and Andhra Pradesh all trace their modern form to 1 November 1956, while Haryana followed a decade later and Chhattisgarh followed at the turn of the century.
The state foundation days date is observed under different names in different states. Karnataka marks it as Rajyotsava, Kerala as Kerala Piravi, and Haryana as Haryana Day. Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh and Chhattisgarh also mark foundation day on 1 November, and chief ministers and other leaders used the morning to send greetings to people in the states celebrating. The messages mixed regional pride with a national theme, with several leaders invoking unity in diversity and the idea of a developed India.
State foundation days in the south and centre
Karnataka Rajyotsava marks the unification of Kannada-speaking regions in 1956. The state was first known as Mysore State, and its name was changed to Karnataka on 1 November 1973. The day is marked with flag hoisting, cultural programmes, awards and community celebrations across the state. Kerala Piravi commemorates the formation of Kerala on 1 November 1956, and it is marked with cultural programmes and events that draw attention to the Malayalam language and the state’s heritage.
Madhya Pradesh also marked a state foundation days anniversary on 1 November 1956, when the States Reorganisation Act took effect. Andhra Pradesh traces its modern form to the same reorganisation, although its earlier history as a state dates to 1953. Chhattisgarh, by contrast, is a much younger state. It was carved out of Madhya Pradesh and established as a separate state on 1 November 2000, and it marks the date as Chhattisgarh Rajyotsava with official programmes and cultural events.
State foundation days and Haryana at 60
The state foundation days anniversary in Haryana carried particular weight this year because the state turned 60. Haryana was created on 1 November 1966 under the Punjab Reorganisation Act, which split the former bilingual state of Punjab into a Hindi-speaking Haryana and a Punjabi-speaking Punjab. The 60th anniversary is being marked as a diamond jubilee, and Haryana Chief Minister Nayab Singh Saini opened the day with greetings to every resident of the state, signing off with “Jai Hind, Jai Haryana”.
President Droupadi Murmu travelled to Kurukshetra on 1 November to take part in the Haryana Day celebrations as chief guest. She arrived in Ambala late on the night of 31 October, where Haryana Governor Asim Kumar Ghosh and Chief Minister Saini welcomed her at the airport. Her day in Kurukshetra was due to begin with prayers at the Bhadrakali Temple, followed by the state-level Haryana Day function at the Srimad Bhagavad Gita Sadan of Kurukshetra University.
At the function, the President was to inaugurate an exhibition on Haryana’s development journey over six decades, covering agriculture and the Green Revolution, sports, industrial growth, education, healthcare, women’s empowerment and cultural heritage. Around 2,000 people from different sections of society were expected to attend the state-level function. The Kurukshetra visit also included the 114th annual festival of Gurukul Kurukshetra and a centenary commemoration of the sacrifice of Swami Shraddhanand, an Arya Samaj leader and freedom movement figure who died in 1926.
Messages on state foundation days
Chief ministers used social media on state foundation days on Sunday morning to send greetings well beyond their own states. Haryana Chief Minister Saini greeted the people of Punjab, Madhya Pradesh, Andhra Pradesh, Chhattisgarh, Karnataka, Kerala, Tamil Nadu, Lakshadweep, Andaman and Nicobar Islands, and Puducherry on their formation anniversaries. He called India’s cultural diversity its greatest strength and urged citizens to advance the national vision of a developed India.
Rajasthan Chief Minister Bhajan Lal Sharma greeted residents of nine states, including Karnataka, Kerala and Tamil Nadu, on foundation day. His state foundation days message invoked the Ek Bharat Shreshtha Bharat vision of unity in diversity, a scheme started in 2015 by the Ministry of Culture to promote national integration through cross-state cultural exchanges, language learning and tourism. The state foundation days greetings from both chief ministers showed how 1 November has become a shared occasion, even for states whose own formation days fall on other dates in some accounts. Tamil Nadu is a case in point: some lists still include it among the states marking 1 November, but its government announced in 2021 that its formation day would be celebrated on 18 July from then on.