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Days after it faced criticism for the conduct of its Members of Parliament, who tried to force-feed a fasting Muslim, Shiv Sena on Monday sought to reignite the Maharashtra-Karnataka border issue, terming it as serious as the India-Pakistan border dispute.
Shiv Sena president Uddhav Thackeray alleged the Karnataka police’s “reign of terror” on Marathi-speaking people in the border area is more severe than that of Hafiz Saeed, who is wanted in the Mumbai terror attacks.
The party also slammed the Maharashtra government for its inaction. The trigger for Thackeray's outburst was the removal of a 'Maharashtra Rajya' signboard from Yellur, one of the border villages in, in Belgaum by Karnataka Police, which led to tension in the area. Thackeray alleged the Karnataka police beat up some of the villagers, including women, when they tried to reinstall the signboard.
Shiv Sena dropped enough hints that the Maharashtra-Karnataka border dispute will be party’s plank during the state Assembly polls slated for October. The party had recently led a scathing attack against the Karnataka government after the local administration allegedly exerted pressure to remove a saffron flag hosted atop the Belgaum civic body.
Shiv Sena spokesman Sanjay Raut demanded that Belgaum and other disputed areas be brought under the President’s rule. He appealed to the Narendra Modi-led National Democratic Alliance (NDA) government to urgently intervene.
“Shiv Sena, which is BJP’s (Bharatiya Janata Party) key ally in the NDA government, is for the moment keeping restraint, but expect government action in this regard,” he said, adding that Shiv Sena will raise the issue in Parliament during the ongoing monsoon session.
State BJP president Devendra Fadnavis also condemned the Karnataka police action and said the party’s state unit would appeal to the Centre to aggressively put up Maharashtra's case in the Supreme Court.
Fadnavis told Business Standard: “The Karnataka government is quite pro-active to defend its case in the apex court, while the Maharashtra government lacks seriousness. The Centre, therefore, has a limited role especially when the matter is being heard in the apex court.” According to Fadnavis, the Belgaum issue matters in the border area, but it’s not a pan-Maharashtra issue that can be raked up in the Assembly polls.
Maharashtra chief minister Prithviraj Chavan spoke to his Karnataka counterpart and expressed displeasure over the incident. He said people should not create fear among residents of border towns.
