PUNE, 29 September 2006 — Tension persist over the border row between Maharashtra and its neighboring state Karnataka, with Maharashtra Minister of State for Education and NCP leader Hasan Mushrif warning the Karnataka government that the people of Maharashtra would “fill prisons” if any legal action is taken to arrest Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister and Home Minister R.R. Patil by the Karnataka government.
Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurapa said that the government had taken seriously the controversial speech delivered by Patil at Belgaum last Monday at the Maharashtra Unification Committee (MUC) rally. The Karnataka government has condemned Patil’s proposal to redraw the disputed boundaries between the two states.
Yediyurapa further stated that the Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy would look into the demand of the members of the Karnataka Legislative Council who want to file a criminal case against Patil. The Karnataka government will lead a delegation to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to register their complaint against Patil for his remarks against Karnataka on Monday.
Patil had presented a barter proposal to the Karnataka government to hand over the Marathi-language-speaking areas in Belgaum district to Maharashtra in return for the Kannada-language-speaking areas in Maharashtra. The Karnataka government quickly rejected the idea of handing Belgaum over to Maharashtra.
The Maharashtra deputy chief minister said that he ‘saluted’ the spirit of the Marathi people of the border areas of Karnataka-Maharashtra who had been struggling hard to pursue their cause for years. Patil warned the Karnataka government of a backlash if injustice was meted out to the Marathi people of the border areas.
“There are many Kannada people in Maharashtra, and we have never been unjust to them. But on the contrary, the Karnataka government was behaving ‘rudely’ with the Marathi people by forcing Kannada on them in schools and government offices,” Patil said.
The Karnataka government further fueled the conflict by declaring Belgaum as the second capital of Karnataka, and converting a medical college there into a permanent legislature assembly and legislative council. This action was considered as a provocation by the government in Maharashtra.
If the announcement of Belgaum as the second capital of the state was not enough of antagonizing officials in Maharashtra, the Karnataka Chief Minister Kumaraswamy dropped another bombshell and rubbed salt on the wounds of Maharashtra politicians when he declared that beginning Nov. 1, Belgaum would be renamed Belagavi. The Cabinet is expected to rule on this in the near future.
A defiant Patil, not rattled by the comments and criticism from across the border, said that he stood by his controversial speech. Patil denied that his speech was meant to incite people to violent action.
Patil said that there was a growing demand to convene a special session of the Maharashtra legislature to debate the decades-old boundary dispute with Karnataka. He launched a veiled attack on the Janata Dal (Secular)-BJP alliance government’s move on Belgaum. “I would convey the sentiments of the people to Chief Minister Vilasrao Deshmukh,” Patil said.
Meanwhile Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leaders on Wednesday demanded a special two-day session in the city to build up a consensus over the disputed status of Belgaum and gather support for the region’s merger with the state. “We will gather support from Maharashtra citizens on the issue of Belgaum’s merger with the state,” Patil said.
Minister of State for Education Mushrif said the Mahajan Committee Report was the result of negligence on state’s side. “Our government did not take the issue seriously. As a result, the commission concluded that Karnataka could retain Belgaum,” Mushrif said.
