Sixty-six years have passed and three generations have witnessed the seemingly never-ending border dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra so far. If anything, this sexagenarian dispute appears to have been kept alive only to fuel political objectives — including the formation of the Mahajan Commission at Maharashtra’s insistence in October 1966 by then prime minister, Indira Gandhi, just a few months before the 1967 general elections.
At the ground level, people’s priorities — their livelihood, needs and welfare, which are common on both sides of the state borders — are overwhelmed by the more dominant show of political muscularity. This is despite the rich exchange of arts, literature, culture and trade between peoples of both the states. Such exchange should have been a clear indicator that the common people — besides those in arts, culture, trade and the intellectual elements — have long moved beyond this issue that has been perpetuated more by political needs than anything else. But blind to that, the pursuit of political goals goes on regardless. Which is why linguistic jingoism echoes only from the power centres and at ‘ground zero’ — Belagavi and adjoining areas, with active instigation of politically-linked linguistic groups in some pockets — but not across entire Karnataka or Maharashtra. Disruptions are mostly restricted at these two ends.
A little peep into the dispute would be welcome here. Before the States Reorganisation Act, 1956, Belgaum (now Belagavi) was part of the then Bombay State (it was under Bombay Presidency before independence). The Act included Belgaum and ten taluks of Bombay State in Mysore State while demarcating the states across the young Union of India on linguistic and administrative lines. So were Vijayapura, Dharwad and Uttara Kannada, based on Kannada-speaking population being in a majority. On November 1, 1973, Mysore State was renamed ‘Karnataka’. Bombay State became ‘Maharashtra’ on May 1, 1960. Effectively, it was from then that the dispute took a more pronounced shape. Maharashtra wanted Belgaum and adjoining areas back. In 2004, it filed a plea before the Supreme Court challenging the Act, and demanded 865 villages from five Karnataka districts.
The 1881 census showed 64.39% people in Belgaum were Kannada-speakers and 26.04% spoke Marathi; the 2011 census recorded 68.40% were Kannada-speakers and 18.70% were Marathi-speakers, the rest belonging to other language denominations.
All through these years, the interstate border areas under dispute had remained on the back-burner of the respective states. They remained below par compared to the rest of the two states. That is why at least 40 villages under Akkalkot taluka in Solapur district of Maharashtra have resolved to merge with Karnataka, citing neglect by the Maharashtra government. That is why sugarcane farmers from Karnataka prefer to go to Maharashtra to sell their produce — they get a better price there. That is why farmers from the grape belt of Karnataka — Vijayapura — are forced to take their produce to Maharashtra, which is the largest grape-growing state in the country, followed by Karnataka.
Had language actually been a barrier between the peoples of the two states, would this have happened? It is just poor governance and lack of attention to the needs of people and their livelihood, in preference for keeping the border issue alive, that is causing this. It is to such an extent that leaders of both the states are even equating the issue with the Chinese incursions into India.
The people’s elected representatives need to stand up and assume just that role — as their representatives, to look after their people’s needs and welfare. The Karnataka government has declared its border dispute with Maharashtra a “closed chapter”. It now needs to get back to its people in the disputed areas to look after their welfare, and send a message to Maharashtra to do the same.