Mid-monsoon, the border district of Belgaum is encountering heat for all the wrong reasons, once again.
Fringe elements are seeking to reap political gain as neighbouring Maharashtra heads for Assembly elections. They believe that whipping up animosity might yield votes at least in the border districts.
Sources in the Karnataka Home Department told The Hindu that there was no need for anxiety and the authorities here had taken steps to have a commanding grip over the law and order situation. While Karnataka is a Congress-governed State, Maharashtra has a Congress-led coalition government, and the political outfit seeking to gain advantage, as has been the case always, is the Shiv Sena.
SignboardThe present round of violence is over a signboard indicating that Yellur village is in Maharashtra although it is well within the geographical boundary of Karnataka. Based on a petition, the Karnataka High Court ruled that the board should be removed.
Although the district administration quickly removed the signboard, it was reinstalled by a section of the local people. It is another matter that the signboard has been in the same place for several decades and none had taken it seriously.
The boundary issue between the two States is over six decades old, and according to local people, it is distressing that political parties and linguistic groups time and again raise the issue to serve their ends whether it be in Maharashtra or in Karnataka. While the emotive issue disturbs the communal harmony in the region, political leaders do not really care for public harmony in preference to garnering votes.
While Karnataka, on the occasion of its golden jubilee year, declared Belgaum as the second capital of the State, Maharashtra, around the same time, filed a special leave petition in the Supreme Court seeking for a settlement on the dispute.
The Mahajan Commission (1966–67) in its report to the Centre while recommending the transfer of nearly 200 border villages had categorically stated that Belgaum should remain with Karnataka.
The Janata Dal (Secular)-led coalition government of H.D. Kumaraswamy, to drive home the point that Belgaum is an integral part of Karnataka, hosted the first session of the State legislature in the district headquarters and also approved a huge budget for the construction of the Suvarna Soudha — a replica of the Vidhana Soudha in Bangalore — to host the legislature session. The building was inaugurated by President Pranab Mukherjee in 2012.
Year-end sessionsThe year-end sessions of the two Houses of the legislature are being held in Belgaum although it is that time of the year when the boundary issue is raised with adequate force by the protagonists of merger. The Kannada Rajyotsava (November 1) is another occasion when the issue surfaces.
