MUMBAI:
Shankarrao Dattatray Toraskar's name
has recently been added to the list of
martyrs' names
on the
Samyukta Maharashtra movement monument
at
Hutatma Chowk
.
The Samyukta Maharashtra movement began in 1956 with the demand for the creation of a separate Marathi-speaking state out of the bilingual state of Bombay. That same year, the Mahagujarat Movement also began for a Gujarati-speaking state to be carved out of the same territory. But both movements wanted Bombay city for themselves.
Toraskar, who died in Kolhapur during a meeting at Bindu Chowk on January 18, 1956, is the first martyr from Western Maharashtra and the 107th overall. The police opened fire at the meeting - they had prohibited people from attending it - and Toraskar was both shot at and stabbed in the resulting mayhem. He died seven days later.
Since 2006, programmes have been held to mark his death anniversary at Kolhapur's Juna Budhwar Peth, where there is a chowk named after him. In 2011, the government published a list of 106 martyrs, which didn't include Toraskar's name. This omission upset the family, which began petitioning the city's mayor, MPs, MLAs, the district's guardian minister, district collectors and even the state's CM to include Toraskar's name in the list of martyrs. However, no one paid attention to their pleas for almost two years.
Finally, the family presented evidence to the government in the form of Toraskar's death certificate and testimonies from senior Samyukta Maharashtra movement leaders like ND Patil, Baburao Dharwade and Narayan Jadhav - all of whom witnessed his death. They confirmed that he had played a vital role and deserved to be commemorated on the monument at Hutatma Chowk.
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