Activists urge govt. to prevent MES rally in Belagavi

March 23, 2018 12:08 am | Updated 12:08 am IST -

Belagavi

Members of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) plan to invite Nationalist Congress Party leader Sharad Pawar to address a rally in Belagavi on March 31.

While the stated objective of the visit is an interaction of farmers with the former Union Agriculture Minister, Kannada activists suspect it to be an attempt to reignite the border issue that has been dormant for a while now.

Thirty-two years ago, on June 1, 1986, Mr. Pawar made a dramatic appearance in Belagavi. The district magistrate had barred his entry and sealed all borders. However, the then Congress leader passed the borders secretly and held a meeting at the house of a lawyer in the city. This led to week-long riots in the city that left seven people dead and several injured. The city also suffered acute drinking water shortage for two weeks as protesters damaged water pipelines.

Activists have decided to appeal to the government not to allow the rally as it could affect the law and order situation. The city is getting back on its feet and peace is leading to development, albeit slowly. “We don’t want to get back to the period of linguist riots,” said Ashok Chandaragi, convener of the Federation of Kannada Associations in Belagavi.

At one time, people sent five MES legislators to the Karnataka Assembly. Now, there are two MES MLAs, and they are not sure of re-election. “The five MES legislators did little other than seek merger of Belagavi and surrounding areas with Maharashtra. Voters who sent them to Bengaluru were not happy with the way the district was governed during their tenure. People slowly realised that the MES was good only in raking up emotional issues and not in delivering the goods. Since then, the party’s support base has been eroding,” Mr. Chandaragi said.

Anjali G., a Dalit activist, said sensational issues are raised before elections by politicians only to divert attention from the real issues. “Belagavi has the largest slum dwelling population in north Karnataka. Its residents suffer from lack of civic amenities and drinking water. Sadly, our leaders focus on less relevant issues like language,” she said.

Deputy Commissioner S. Ziyaullah said the government was yet to decide on allowing the rally.

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