Tension is once again simmering along the Karnataka-Maharashtra border. This time, it’s over a Karnataka bus conductor getting thrashed because he could not speak Marathi. The issue took a bizarre turn with a young girl making the language demand, accusing the conductor of sexual misconduct and filing a Pocso case against him. The flare-up led to damage to buses on both sides; drivers were assaulted and interstate bus services suspended for a few days. The teenager and her family have since withdrawn the case and declared they are true-blue Kannadigas. Such clashes are nothing new for Belagavi district, a cauldron of linguistic hostility.
The dispute dates from the reorganisation of states in 1956 along linguistic lines. In the middle was Belagavi, which was claimed by both states. Maharashtra, formed in 1960, staked claim over 865 habitations that included the predominantly Marathi-speaking towns of Belagavi, Nippani and Karwar. The Mahajan Commission, set up in 1966 to resolve the dispute, suggested a compromise: Belagavi and 247 villages in Maharashtra to Karnataka, and 264 villages in Karnataka to be transferred to Maharashtra. It factored in administrative and economic convenience apart from linguistic composition. But Maharashtra rejected the formula. And Belagavi has remained a flashpoint ever since. Maharashtra took the issue to the Supreme Court in 2004, and has passed assembly resolutions to bring Belagavi, Nippani, Karwar, Bidar, Bhalki and other Marathi-speaking villages into its map. Karnataka, meanwhile, has consolidated its ownership by constructing the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha in Belagavi and holding the legislature’s winter session there. Now parties in both states are united on the border row, with the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi and Karnataka Rakshana Vedike occasionally stirring the linguistic pot.
The dispute has festered for almost 70 years, with linguistic pride adding fuel to fire, especially around Rajyotsava on November 1, Karnataka’s formation day. Disagreements also persist over sharing water from the Mahadayi and Krishna rivers. It’s regrettable that two economically robust states, whose people are inextricably connected and have a shared history, are in conflict over territory and language. Violence and retaliation only harms the states and disrupts public life. Instead of adopting a narrow parochial attitude, a spirit of unity and understanding should prevail—at Belagavi and across the nation.