BELAGAVI: Maratha-dominated border villages in Karnataka care little about infrastructure development, or the lack of it, when they vote this election. There is a sixty-year-old border dispute, pending before the Apex Court, that triggers a visceral reaction from residents here. They say that their soul is in Maharastra.
People here are not unhappy with the State government or its programmes, but they, like the the 10,000-strong Marathi-speaking population of Uchagoan, are apprehensive about their future because they cannot speak, read or write Kannada. All the revenue records in the state are in Kannada, and the government offices transact in this language.
As one enters Uchagoan village, 14 km from Belagavi, the visitor is greeted by sign boards in Marathi on shops, offices and on mandirs. However, the Primary Co-operative Society sign board and the government school boards are in both Kannada and Marathi.
Residents Anand Desai and Srikanth Desai are relaxing near Ganesha Vittala Mandir. Both admit that they can’t speak or read Kannada.
”We did not have Kannada in our school those days. I can speak and read Marathi,” says Anand Desai, adding, “but my daughter-in-law is from Dharwad. She can speak and read.” They believe that the Maharastra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) is still a winning horse in this region, and would emerge strong once more if there is no infighting like there was in the 2013 polls.
Last election was not an easy win for BJP’s Sanjay Patil, which was only by a narrow margin, though there were two MES candidates, says a local political leader. “We want a representation of Maratha pride in the Karnataka assembly,” says Laxman Mhtri.
Mhtri, who studied in Karnataka school, serves has an employee in a neighbouring village in Maharastra. “We are not unhappy with Karnataka. But, every thing is in Kannada, which we cannot follow,” he says.
Senior Gandhians, seated around a life-size Shivaji statue at the bus stop , wave white topis to express their support for MES. There is a strong support base for Congress here but the MES can not be ignored. This regional party, which was formed in 1948 to unite Belagavi with Maharastra, will do well till the border dispute stays alive.
Senior MES leader Manohar Kinekar says that they are not raking up border issues for political gains. “This struggle has been ongoing for decades… We have an edge in the 2018 polls as dissident candidates have joined BJP and people have realised the importance of voting for us, the party who is committed to their cause”.
MES local leader Ravi Poushe too foresees an MES win with former Belagavi Mayor Shivaji, who was from MES, joining BJP. He believes that they are likely to win more than half a dozen seats in Belagavi district.
But Congress leader and the panchayat president Yogitha Balasaheb Tathe says that an MES win or voting for another party would hit flow of funds for the development of the village. For now, they get `40 lakh in grants and adds that, during her term, the drinking-water supply was improved by spending `24 lakh.
Attempts at integration
Panchayat president Yogitha Balasaheb says that a few of the residents have put their wards in Kannada schools because they think it is their future. The parents could not even read names in Kannada on their Aadhaar card. The Kannada school in Uchagoan has 300 students, but they are here mostly because they cannot afford the more expensive local convent-run school or the one in Belagavi.
Shivaji Jayanti
The Shivaji Jayanti celebrations have become more gung-ho as a majority of the Marathi-speaking population has started celebrating in public places. It is held on a grand scale both in urban and rural pockets. Many are also keen on installing a Shivaji statue with the help of politicians in places where Marathas form the majority.