The cold response from most of the districts in the north Karnataka region to the Karnataka bandh on the Mekedatu issue on Saturday has raised a question whether it is a right time for leaders of south Karnataka to introspect on their approach towards the issues of State.
“It is the right time for leaders of south Karnataka to ponder over their actions, which have made the people of north Karnataka feel discriminated. Such a notion, if it continues, is surely not good for the unity of the State,” said writer, activist and chairman of Karnataka Book Authority, Banjagere Jaiprakash.
Emotional gap
Admitting that the emotional gap between north Karnataka and south Karnataka still existed, he said it was the responsibility of the leaders from the south to take an initiative to bridge it.
Regretting that one of the reasons for this gap was the presence of activists based in Bengaluru, Mr. Jaiprakash who has been fighting for the implementation of the Upper Bhadra Project, said that the absence of representatives of other districts was one among the reasons for the problem.
Reiterating that the leaders from the south have a greater responsibility towards sorting out the difference, he said that a coordination committee should be constituted to fight for justice.
“The voices for a statehood for north Karnataka will only grow lauder if people here are not taken on board,” Mr. Jayaprakash said.
Irrigation expert and writer Krishna Kolhar Kulkarni said the opposition to the bandh was like a warning to the collective conscience of unified Karnataka.
Questioning the rationale of the bandh, he asked when over 200 tmcft of water belonging to the State was flowing into Andhra Pradesh every year, why no leader from the south ever talked about speeding up the implementation of irrigation projects in the Upper Krishna belt.
Panchappa Kalburgi, agriculture activist and president of the Bheema Nadi Neeru Horata Samiti, believes that it was a critical time for southern leaders to introspect.
Asking for the formation of a Krishna-Cauvery coordination committee to resolve the issue, he feared a failure to have such a confidence building measure would only create further division and would give rise to the demand for a separate State.
Closer coordination sought between activists from all regions
