BELAGAVI: Tension prevailed in Belagavi on Monday after a few Kannada activists threw black ink on the face of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) leader Deepak Dalvi while he was attempting to hold ‘Maha Melava’ near the Vaccine Depot ground at Tilakwadi.
Angered by the attack, MES leaders have called for a Belagavi bandh on December 14.
Though permission was not granted for MES to organise the ‘Maha Melava’, a mega convention to protest against the government for conducting the winter session, it still attempted to hold it.
The MES leaders had managed to erect a temporary stage on the road as they did not get permission to hold the event on the Vaccine Depot ground.
This had led to verbal clashes between the MES leaders on one side and the police and Belagavi City Corporation officials on the other.
Initially, there were hardly 50 pro-Marathi activists at the convention.
When MES senior leader Dalvi got off and walked behind the stage to speak with some persons, a few Kannada activists appeared on the scene and threw black ink on his face.
This enraged the pro-Marathi activists. But before they reacted, the police took one of the Kannada activists into their custody.
The accused has been identified as Sampatkumar Desai of the Karnataka Navanirman Sena.
A video of the activists throwing black ink on Dalvi’s face went viral on social media and many pro-Marathi people rushed to the spot.
After the convention, the activists took out a rally and filed a complaint against the Kannada activists at Tilakwadi police station.