Uddhav Thackeray Wants Karnataka's Belagavi To Be Declared A Union Territory

Yet again, border politics seem to be raising its ugly head with Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray reiterating that he shall not rest until Belagavi is made a part of Maharashtra.

Thackeray, speaking at a book release function today, also sought that the the disputed border regions of Belagavi be declared a union territory until the matter is resolved.

Releasing the Marathi book titled Maharashtra Karnataka Simawad: Sangharsh Ani Sankalp (Maharashtra-Karnataka Border Dispute: Struggle and Resolve) Thackeray said there was a need to reignite the flame of linguistic pride in order to reclaim the territory.

Reminiscing how Mumbai was aflame when his father and Shiv Sena supremo Balasaheb Thackeray raised the language issue back then, he emphasised the need for history to repeat.

He yet again called Belagavi a ‘Karnataka occupied region’ and sought that Belagavi elect Marathi speakers in the elections.

Also dismissing allegations that his state was disrespecting court orders, he accused Karnataka of the same.

“Karnataka government is disrespectfully taking one step at a time. Nothing should be done when a matter is subjudice, yet they changed the name of Belgaum. They made it the second capital. They hold legislative assembly sessions there. Is this not an insult of the court?” questioned Thackeray.

These statements come close on the heels of a similar claim to take the region back from Karnataka, from a few weeks ago, that had the Karnataka government pledging to guard every inch of its land.

Karnataka government has been stating that there are no differences among speakers of the two languages in the region and that the neighbouring state was raking up non-existent differences.

Kannada organisations in the state have backed the state‘s stand that there are no differences among the people of the region although certain fringe elements did take objections to the constitution of a separate board for Marathi speakers in the state.

That the hold of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti has fizzled out owing to internal differences, that the Sena no longer finds a connect with the Marathi speakers in Karnataka was evident in the words of Thackeray when he stressed on the need to unify and fight for the common cause.

In contrast, all parties in Karnataka have in unison said there was no question of encouraging any such demands nor would there be any scope for political differences in this matter.

Senior leaders of the Karnataka wing of Congress, Shiv Sena’s ally in Maharashtra, too have clarified their support to the government’s stand that ‘not an inch of land that belongs to the state shall be given to anyone,”.

The region appears to have made peace with its linguistically diverse identity, is fluid in terms of its multilingual cultural fabric, is seeing investment as well as infrastructural development for the first time in decades and has clearly moved beyond politics of linguistic differences.

Technically too, a UT is a region that was given that status as per the States Reorganisation Committee in 1956 to those areas that were not a part of India during independence or were too small to be made into an independent state.

These were regions that had to be supported by the centre as they weren’t strong enough to function as separate administrative units.

On no grounds does the region qualify to be carved out as a union territory other than the fact that it hurts the neighbouring state that the Mahajan committee report too sanctioned it to Karnataka.

And instigating secessionism in a region that is finally getting its due should be checked as it would only take the region back to where it has been trying hard to move on from.

But given that the region goes to elections soon, the melodrama is bound to hit the peak until the results call curtains on it.