Karnataka: Shadow of Border Dispute in Marathi-Speaking Belagavi Looms Over Assembly Session

The Winter session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly has been overshadowed by the border dispute between Marathi and Kannada activists in Belagavi. The conversations have been steered toward the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), an organisation that has been campaigning to merge Marathi speaking regions in Belagavi with Maharashtra. Kannada activists have demanded a ban on the organisation.

Meanwhile, time is running out for other issues to be heard in the Assembly. The Opposition was intending to bring up the issue of corruption raised by state contractors. They had written a letter to the PMO alleging that the BJP government in Karnataka was demanding a minimum bribe of 40% of the project cost to approve tenders. The opposition was also seeking answers on the probe into the alleged Bitcoin scam. However, the BJP government has managed to deflect attention towards the MES. Local news channels have been portraying the organisation as a troublemaker, but the history of the organisation is long and storied.

Deepak Dalvi, 80, was born in Hubli, in 1942. The area was then part of the Bombay Presidency. When the states were reorganised along linguistic lines, in 1956, the Mysore state (now karnataka) was born. A boundary was drawn at Belgaum marking it the border separating Mysore from Bombay Presidency. Dalvi remembers taking part in the agitations which followed. He was still in school at the time. His father, Arjun Rao, had his own business, and thus, the resources to organise protests.

Dalvi witnessed the birth of the Marathi linguistic movement in Belagavi. He said that he saw various Marathi leaders visiting his home in Belagavi and organising rallies along with his father. Since his school came under the Mysore board, he boycotted his matriculation exams. He went to Kolhapur and took the exams there.

Journey of MES

Over the years, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti, has remained an organisation spearheading the movement for division of Belgaum (now Belagavi) district. Deepak Dalvi is now the president of the organisation. He is vocal about his demand to merge parts of Belagavi with Maharashtra. Due to this, all the vitriol from Kannada activists has found a common target.

On December 13, 2021, activists of Karnataka Nava Nirmana Sene threw ink on Deepak Dalvi as he was arriving to flag off a maha melava rally. Dalvi refers to this rally as a people’s assembly to protest the Karnataka Assembly session in Belagavi.

A legislature building (suvarna vidhana soudha) was constructed in Belagavi and inaugurated in 2012. It has hosted the winter session of Karnataka state Legislative Assembly ever since. The construction of this building was seen as a move to assuage sentiments of separatism in the region.

Following the blackening of his face, some unknown persons allegedly burnt the Karnataka state flag in Kolhapur and desecrated a statue of Sangolli Rayanna in Belagavi. In retaliation, Kannada activists in Bengaluru desecrated a Shivaji statue. After a war of words, the situation was brought to a boil in Belagavi by a gathering of Kannada activists protesting against MES and the statue desecration. Section 144 was then imposed in Belagavi.

According to members of the organisation, the police have now booked 61 MES activists and arrested 38 of them. The sections include IPC 143 (unlawful assembly), 147 (rioting), 307 (attempt to murder), 332 (assault), 153 (provocation to cause riot), 427 (mischief causing damage to the amount of fifty rupees), 435 (mischief by fire), and 109 (offering bribe to a public servant), among others. The organisation maintains that their activists have remained peaceful and that the BJP government is misusing state machinery to suppress the movement.

MES was formed between 1945-46. Explaining its history, Dalvi said, “When the Congress announced that they would reorganise states on linguistic lines, it was because they found it difficult to address public gatherings during the freedom struggle. In 1946, a Marathi Sahitya Sammelan was held in Belgaum, and a resolution was passed that a Marathi speaking state should be created.” But this was not done, and instead, Belagavi was merged with Karnataka. The MES are trying to rectify what they see as a historical mistake.

According to the 2011 Census, there are around 47 lakh people in Belagavi district. Dalvi estimates that there may be at least 25 lakh Marathi speakers among them. The MES have identified around 865 villages which are Marathi dominated and are all on the border of Maharashtra. They believe these villages should be merged with Maharashtra because the language and culture of the people here are very different from the rest of the Karnataka state.

Mapping the Disputed Territory

The organisation has been preparing maps to present their case in the Supreme Court. However, there has been no progress in the case. Belagavi district is  divided into 14 talukas.

The MES believes that the people here can develop their culture if they have education in their own language. Then, they will be able to read government orders in their own language. This was one of the key benefits of reorganising states on linguistic lines.

Ashwini Gowda, state Vice President, Karnataka Rakshana Vedike, countered by arguing that the MES and their supporters should learn Kannada as it is the official language of the state. She said, “We respect all languages but those people have to learn the local language of the state. If I go to Maharashtra, I will definitely learn Marathi, if I go to Tamil Nadu, I will learn Tamil. Finally, the Mahajan report is the ultimate one; if you want any change in it, you will have to fight it legally rather than burning our flag”.

In 1966, the Mahajan Commission was set up by the Central government in an attempt to solve the border dispute. However, the commission concluded that a few villages could be merged with Maharashtra but Belagavi city should remain in Karnataka. It even suggested that Kasargod in Kerala could be merged with Karnataka state.

Dalvi objected to the findings of the Mahajan Commission. He said, “Karnataka was asking for the merger of Kasaragod. They presented their case before that commission. Mahajan had said that since those candidates (pro Karnataka candidates) had won gram panchayat elections, that can be taken as the will of the people to be included in Karnataka. However, since 1956-2008, MES used to win all the assembly elections from Karwar to Bidar and Nipani. At least seven Marathi speaking representatives were present in the assembly. All the gram panchayats (in border areas) are in the control of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti.”

However, the MES have not won any elections in the state since 2008 when the constituency of Belgaum was redrawn. In 2008, Belgaum North and Belgaum South constituencies were created. MES says that the constituencies were created in such a way so as to ensure that their candidates do not have an advantage. But the movement has been taken forward in other ways. Every year, on January 17, the organisation observes ‘hutatma divas’. On this day in 1956, Marathi activists protesting against inclusion in Mysore state were shot by police. The martyrs are remembered every year. The activists have also been resisting the winter session of the Assembly conducted in Belagavi. When the session begins, MES conducts a maha melava as an act of resistance.

Dalvi’s colleague, Prakash Margale, addressing the desecration of statues said, “In the last 65 years, show me one incident where any statue of Kittur Rani Chennamma or Sangolli Rayanna has been damaged in Belgaum. Why is this happening now? The BJP government is instigating Kannadigas to stand up against MES.” Notably, the MES refers to the Belagavi district as Belgaum, as the former is seen by them as a part of cultural imposition.

The Belagavi border dispute is at present being heard in the Supreme Court. Meanwhile, the Kannada news channels have been portraying MES as a troublemaker. They have successfully created an ‘us vs them’ narrative. The anchors use abusive language while referring to the organisation, even referring to them as terrorists and traitors. However, this movement, like so many before it, is guided by devotion to the mother tongue of a people. A conclusion of the dispute has been long awaited.