Most speakers in the district-level Kannada Sahitya Sammelan in Kagwad in Belagavi district criticised attempts by Shiv Sena leadership to raise the border issue.
Prabhakar Kore, president of the sammelan and KLE Society chairman, said that such attempts were politically motivated. Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray and other leaders are raking up sensational issues for political benefit.
“Shiv Sena leaders are raising the issue just to help the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti in its campaign for the Belagavi City Corporation elections. They will not succeed. We should stop paying attention to such tactics. We should neglect them,” he said.
He felt that Mr. Thackeray’s demands that Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka should be merged with Maharashtra were meaningless. Equally inappropriate is the counter demand by Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi that Mumbai should be merged with Karnataka as it has a lot of Kannada speakers.
According to him, the whole idea of reorganisation of States based on language was old. “There is no need for such an idea now-a-days when people of different languages reside in different States. There are innumerable Kannada speakers in Maharashtra and a similar quantum of Marathi speakers in Karnataka. They use the two languages for trade and every day communication. This should not be taken as a factor for seeking reorganisation again,” Mr. Kore said.
The reorganisation of States on linguistic basis is a settled matter. Maharashtra government or Marathi-speaking groups in Karnataka should not raise it any further, he said.
Manu Baligar, Kannada Sahitya Parishat president, asked Shiv Sena and MES leaders not to provoke peace-loving Kannada speakers. “Provoking the Kannadiga is to wake up a sleeping lion. Don’t try to do that,” he said.
“People of Belagavi and other border areas have rejected the divisive politics of MES and Shiv Sena. People of Karnataka want to live in harmony with groups speaking multiple languages. No one should disturb this atmosphere,” he said.
Similar opinions were expressed by other speakers, including Kannada Sahitya Parishat district president Mangala Metagud, Sri Basavalinga Swamy, Sri Neelakantheshwar Swami, Sri Yateeshwarananda Swami, writers Sarjoo Katkar, Y.R Patil, Murugesh Shivapooji and Siddagouda Kage.
Textile Minister and MLA from Kagwad Srimanth Patil, Kannada Ssahitya Parishat office-bearers Gurudevi Hulleppanavarmath, Jyoti Badami, M.Y. Menasinakayi and others were present.