Why in the News?
The State of Karnataka has decided to pass a resolution stating its position on the Belgavi border dispute. Chief Minister Bommai has urged both houses of the legislature to pass a unanimous resolution in this regard. It comes in the face of flaring tensions at the Belgavi border, where the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti has staged protests asking for the entry of Maharashtra ministers into the district.
Background
The dispute relates to Maharashtra’s claim on Belgavi and other neighbouring Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka since 1960. The decision to pass a resolution comes after the meeting with Union Home Minister Amit Shah, where the Chief Ministers of Maharashtra and Karnataka staked their claim on the region. Mr Bommai has had to face a lot of flak, with the opposition Congress blaming him for being soft on issues that matter to the state.
In History
After India gained its independence in 1947, the Belagavi area of the old Bombay Presidency was included in Bombay State. The States Reorganization Act of 1956 included the Belagavi district as part of the newly created Mysore state (now Karnataka). This put Belagavi, where the majority of the population speaks Marathi, in the Kannada-dominated state of Karnataka. A newly created Maharashtra state included neighbouring regions with a majority of Marathi-speaking residents.
Following a communication from the Maharashtra government on June 23, 1957, the Government of India established the Mahajan Committee on June 5, 1960, to decide on the reorganisation of Belagavi. In the four-person Committee, there were two representatives from the Maharashtra government and two from the Mysore government. But no agreement could be reached. In exchange for Mysore receiving the villages with a Kannada majority that Maharashtra wants to embrace the following principles:
- Villages as a unit
- Geographical proximity/integrity
- Marathi or Kannada speakers “relative majority”; villages with no population should be merged with that state where the owners of that land reside
- The wish of the residents
While the Govt of Mysore wanted the status quo to prevail.
The Way Ahead
While the Karnataka State Legislature’s resolution is bound to create ripples, the status quo will prevail. This controversy, mired in history, demography and politics, ain’t going nowhere.
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