Government to take up atrocities issue with Karnataka

Taking serious cognisance of the alleged ‘police atrocities’ against Marathi-speaking people in Belgaum, Karnataka, the Maharashtra government will take up the issue with the Karnataka government. The issue was also reflected in the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday after which cultural minister Vinod Tawde said that he would write to the neighbouring government on the issue.

“The issue of police atrocities against Marathi-speaking people observing November 1 as a ‘Black Day’ was discussed and condemned in the Cabinet meeting held on Tuesday,” Mr Tawde told reporters here. “It was decided that the mood of the Cabinet would be conveyed to the Karnataka government via a letter,” he added.

Youths and activists of Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a regional outfit in Karnataka, were arrested for taking part in a ‘Black Day’ protest rally in Belgaum on Kannada Rajyotsava Day on November 1.

November 1 is celebrated across Karnataka as Kannada Rajyotsava Day, the day on which the state was formed.

MES leaders have alleged that their activists are being beaten and tortured by the Karnataka police. It wants 814 villages, where the Marathi-speaking population is dominant, to be integrated with Maharashtra. In its report 50 years ago, the Centre-appointed Mahajan Commission (under former Chief Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan) had recommended that these villages remain in Karnataka. The Maharashtra government has been fighting a case in the Supreme Court for nearly 12 years now to get Belgaum and adjoining areas back from Karnataka.

Just a day earlier, the Shiv Sena, the ally of the BJP, had condemned the attacks on the Marathi youths.