Pro-Karnataka activists on Tuesday attacked vehicles with Maharashtra number plates in Belagavi district after which NCP chief Sharad Pawar said he would visit the Karnataka district if calm was not restored.
Pro-Karnataka activists on Tuesday attacked vehicles with Maharashtra number plates in Belagavi district after which Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) chief Sharad Pawar said he would visit the Karnataka district if calm was not restored.
Karnataka Rakshana Vedike supporters stage a protest over the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute, at Hire Bagewadi, in Belagavi on Tuesday. (ANI)
The border dispute between the two states started in 1956 when Belagavi, which was part of the erstwhile Bombay Presidency, was given to Karnataka as per State Reorganisation Act of 1956. Maharashtra protested, saying these areas have a sizable Marathi-speaking population, after which the central government formed a four-member committee. The committee’s recommendation in 1967 to transfer 264 Marathi-speaking villages to Maharashtra was rejected by the Maharashtra government, which had been seeking transfer of over 500 villages.
Since then, both the neighbouring states have been wrangling over the border. The latest round started on November 21, when the Maharashtra government announced an extension of social schemes to Marathi families that died during the agitations for merger with Maharashtra.Karnataka chief minister Basavaraj Bommai on November 23 said his government was “seriously considering” including 40 Kannada-speaking villages from the Jat tehsil in Maharashtra’s Sangli district in Karnataka.
On Tuesday, Maharashtra ministers Chandrakant Patil and Shambhuraj Desai postponed their visit after the Karnataka government said that they will not be allowed to enter in their state.
Several trucks bearing Maharashtra number plates were damaged in stone pelting during a protest over police stopping pro-Kannada activists from entering the disputed district in large numbers. T A Narayana Gowda, president of Karnataka Rakshana Vedike (KRV), which held the protests, said police assaulted Kannada activists. “Why should the police use force against pro-Kannada activists?” he asked. About 400 pro-Karnataka activists were detained, police said. Police also detained about 50 activists of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a pro-Maharashtra group, who had come to submit a memorandum addressed to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, accusing the state of violating constitutional provisions by banning entry of Maharashtra ministers.
After the violence, the Maharashtra government stopped the services of state transport buses to Karnataka. “Once the situation normalises and we get a go-ahead from police, the buses will ply. It was stopped this afternoon,” said Shekhar Channe, managing director of Maharashtra State Road Transport Corporation.
Maharashtra deputy chief minister Devendra Fadnavis spoke to Bommai, expressing his “displeasure” over the violence and sought the Karnataka chief minister’s intervention to allow vehicles with Maharashtra number plates to enter Karnataka. Police from both states continued to guard the border as situation remained tense, officials said. Bommai said he also spoke to Maharashtra chief minister Eknath Shinde and “both agreed that there should be peace and law and order to be maintain in both the states”.
On Tuesday, Pawar said he would visit Belagavi if the situation was not brought under control in the next 24 to 48 hours. He accused the Karnataka government of misusing police to target MES activists, and said the time has come to take a “firm” stand on the issue. “Maharashtra has shown patience so far, but it also has a limit. If our vehicles are attacked, then the repercussions are bound to happen. In that case, the Karnataka chief minister and his government will be held responsible for the mess,” Pawar said. Pawar was not alone, as several ministers from the Balasahebanchi Shiv Sena led by chief minister Eknath Shinde condemned the violence and warned that Karnataka should not try their patience, leading to embarrassment for the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party.
“We are extremely disappointed with the developments and such incidents at Hire Bagewadi are not acceptable,” Fadnavis told Bommai, according to a statement from the former’s office. Fadnavis will speak to Union home minister Amit Shah, requesting him to call a meeting of two states to bring the situation under control, the statement added. Bommai reiterated his government’s commitment to protect the border and denied the issue had anything to do with the 2023 elections. “There is no relation with the upcoming assembly elections. For many years now, it is Maharashtra that has been raking up the issue,” he said.
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