Thackeray demands central rule in ‘Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra’

The Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute dominated the proceedings of the state legislature on Monday, with heated discussions taking place between the ruling BSS-BJP coalition and the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA)

Nagpur: The Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute dominated the proceedings of the state legislature on Monday, with heated discussions taking place between the ruling BSS-BJP coalition and the opposition Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA). While Shiv Sena (UBT) chief Uddhav Thackeray and leader of the Opposition Ajit Pawar took on the government and questioned its continuing silence despite provocation from Karnataka, Chief Minister Eknath Shinde responded that the state would table a resolution on the dispute on Tuesday.

Nagpur: Former Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray with Rajya Sabha MP Sanjay Raut arrives to attend the Winter Session of Maharashtra Assembly, at Vidhan Bhavan in Nagpur, Monday, Dec. 26, 2022. (PTI Photo) (PTI12_26_2022_000106B) (PTI)

Thackeray, who attended the council for the first time after his government was toppled in June, demanded that Belagavi, Karwar and Nipani in Karnataka be declared Union territories till the Supreme Court took its decision on the dispute. “The state legislature’s resolution should include this demand since the Karnataka government has been interfering in the matter even though the apex court has ordered a status quo,” he said.

Thackeray also alleged that Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai had been “instigating and torturing Marathi people in the border areas” besides making statements that he would not yield an inch of land to Maharashtra. However, the Maharashtra chief minister and the government preferred to keep mum on this, he remarked.

The dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka dates back to over 60 years ago when states were reorganised along linguistic lines via the State Reorganisation Act of 1956. People in Belgavi (then Belgaum) and other areas have been demanding their inclusion in Maharashtra ever since, pointing out that the Marathi-speaking population is in a majority in these areas. The Karnataka government has been opposing this, and for the past several weeks, political leaders from the two states have been involved in a verbal battle on the issue.

The MVA and Thackeray have been accusing the BSS-BJP government of taking a soft stand on the issue on account of the fact that the BJP is also ruling Karnataka. Lashing out at CM Shinde, Thackeray asked him whether his government had the courage to reply to Bommai in the same vein when he declared that he would not give an inch of land to Maharashtra. “We don’t want a single inch of Karnataka’s land but want our land back,” Thackeray said. “We should send a demand to the Centre to declare Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra a Union territory. Thackeray then questioned the central government’s role as “guardian” of both states.

Thackeray also urged the ruling coalition and the Opposition to come together on the issue. “The border struggle is not a political but a humanitarian issue,” he said “Marathi-speaking people are oppressed every day in the border areas. The Karnataka government is doing injustice to them. False cases are filed against them. People there are suffering.”

Ajit Pawar, Congress MLA and former chief minister Prithviraj Chavan and Shiv Sena (UBT) MLA Bhaskar Jadhav also questioned the government over its ‘soft stand’. Pawar said that CM Bommai had been making provocative statements against Maharashtra deliberately. “This has been done to nettle the pride and self-respect of Maharashtra,” he said. “Despite this, our government has kept silent. The Opposition and the people of Maharashtra want the government to give a fitting reply.”

Chief Minister Shinde, who was in Delhi on Tuesday claimed that his government was refraining from speaking on the issue since the matter was sub-judice and that he expected the Karnataka government to do likewise. “Any statements from both states could affect the hearing and the court ruling,” he said. “But we have always stood firmly by the Marathi-speaking people in the border area. We restarted their welfare scheme that had become defunct during the MVA regime.”

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis announced that the government would table a resolution on the border dispute in the assembly on Tuesday. “We are not going to compromise on the issue,” he said. “We will fight this battle in the SC or before the central government with all our might and stand by the Marathi-speaking population in the border area.”