Activists try to hoist Kannada flag in Belagavi, cops step in

BELAGAVI: A group of pro-Kannada activists tried to hoist a Kannada flag in front of the Belagavi City Corporation (BCC) office on Monday. However, police prevented them from doing so, triggering a flash protest.Corporation commissioner Jagadish K H along with ACPs Sadashiv Kattimani and Chandrappa tried to convince the agitators to withdraw their protest. However, the agitators refused to budge. This led to a verbal altercation between the agitators and officers. 

Activists Kasturi Bhavi, Srinivas Talukar and others raised slogans against the State government, elected representatives and police officers for not supporting the flag-hoisting, after installing the flagpost on the BCC premises. They also threatened to end their lives if the officials removed the flagpost. Social worker and RTI activist Bheemappa Gadad participated in the agitation as well. 

Defending the agitators, Belagavi Rural MLA and KPCC spokesperson Laxmi Hebbalkar asked, “What’s wrong if a Kannada flag is hoisted in the BCC?” Ever since the inception of BCC, local body elections are posited around language. Backed by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), Marathas have dominated the city corporation for several decades and had also hoisted a saffron flag at the corporation.

However, that came to an end when the city corporation office was shifted to a new building. Now, the Congress and BJP have announced that they will contest the corporation elections on party symbols. This latest incident is likely to fuel language politics ahead of the elections.