Shantaram Forum

Into the 20th Century

The city continued this steady growth into the 20th century, The Port Trust Railway and Ballard Pier being opened in 1915. The electrification of the city began at the same time, with the first overhead transmission lines erected by the Tata Power Company and the first electric locomotives being manufactured in 1927. The first so-called electric multiple unit (EMU) commuter trains began running here over the GIP railway shortly after.

After the worldwide political turmoil of the 20’s and 30’s and during the course of World War II, the All India Congress Committee held its historic session here in August of 1942. It was at the Gowalia Tank Maidan that Mahatma Gandhi and the other India National Congress leaders made their famous call to “quit India”. Despite their arrests, the momentum behind the Quit India Movement could no longer be stopped and after 282 years of rule, the British withdrew from subcontinent on 15 August, 1947.

Independence

Indian independence achieved, Jawaharlal Nehru and the Congress party came to power in Bombay and the Bombay State, as well. At that time, the Bombay State included the surrounding two provinces as well as the city as its seat of government but in 1960, Bombay State was split once again into the Maharashtra and Gujarat states with Maharashtra keeping Bombay city as its capital. The Congress party held power in Maharashtra until the victories of the Bharativa Janata Party or BJP in 1994.

In the late 1970s Bombay witnessed another construction boom and yet another massive wave of migrants. Social tensions rose and the city not only enjoyed a commercial and cultural boom without precedence, it also had to face a series of riots, ethnic and nationalistic tension and vicious political power struggles, as well.

Change to Mumbai

The city changed its name to Mumbai in 1995, a word derived from the patron goddess Mumbadevi. And although this modern mega city is certainly not without its problems, for many Indians this name change has come to represent the culmination of a long process that has transformed their image Bombay’s colonial past to one of Mumbai’s independence and modernity, prosperity, and cultural diversity.