Fight for inclusion of disputed border areas of Karnataka on: Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena, praising the “unity and the fight” by the Marathi-speaking population of Belgaum for the merger of the disputed region with Maharashtra, has said that the fight for the region was on even after 65 years

The Shiv Sena, praising the “unity and the fight” by the Marathi-speaking population of Belgaum for the merger of the disputed region with Maharashtra, has said that the fight for the region was on even after 65 years.

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The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (EKS), an umbrella organisation created to integrate Marathi-speaking majority districts of Karnataka with Maharashtra, after a long time, has fielded its candidate for the Lok Sabha by-poll in the region. Its candidate Shubham Shelke, 26, a Marathi-speaking youth, is being supported by both Shiv Sena and the Nationalist Congress Party (NCP).

The by-polls were necessitated after Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) parliamentarian Suresh Angadi died due to Covid-19 last September.

Shiv Sena’s Member of Parliament (MP) Sanjay Raut, in his weekly editorial Rok Thok in party mouthpiece Saamana, has praised the Marathi youth in Belgaum for coming together despite all the “hurdles” to preserve Marathi language and culture.

“There is a misleading campaign that the current generation is no longer interested in the merger of Belgaum with Maharashtra. In fact, the younger generation has given more power to this 65-year-long struggle,” said Raut, condemning former Maharashtra chief minister and BJP leader Devendra Fadnavis for campaigning against Shelke.

Raut warned that if the “atrocities” on the Marathi-speaking population continues, it can have recuperations on Karnataka’s traders.

“When Belgaum’s Marathi-speaking people are attacked, our Shiv Sena workers in Kolhapur attack their [Karnataka’s] buses coming into the state. If this trend continues in Mumbai, it will have a bad effect on Karnataka-based traders carrying out their business in Mumbai. However, we are not interested in stretching it to that extent,” he added.

Recently, Maharashtra chief minister Uddhav Thackeray had urged the centre to declare the disputed region as Union Territory, till the Supreme Court gives its final verdict.

The border dispute has its origin in the States Reorganisation Act of 1956. The law made Belgaum and 10 talukas of the Bombay state, once part of the colonial Bombay Presidency, a part of the then Mysore state. The Maharashtra government has been demanding that the 800-odd villages in Belgaum and Karwar be included in Maharashtra, as they have a majority of Marathi-speaking population. This dispute is currently before the Supreme Court of India.