Border dispute: ‘Impossible to solve 60-year border row in one hour’

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis at the Vidhan Bhavan, in Nagpur on Monday. Pic/ANI

The boundary dispute with Karnataka caused a flutter on the first day of the winter session of the state Assembly in Nagpur. The Opposition raised the issue of arrest of and assault on Marathi-speaking protesters by Karnataka cops, and demanded to know what the Shinde government was doing about it.

Deputy CM Devendra Fadnavis said he would lodge a protest with the neighbouring CM, and added, "It is not possible to resolve a 60-year-old issue in an hour."

The Opposition protested against the arrest of Marathi-speaking people by the police of the neighbouring state, and demanded to know what the Shinde government was doing about it.

Cops lathi-charge Marathi-speaking protesters at Kognoli toll plaza in Karnataka, as tweeted by MLA Hasan Mushrif. Pic/Twitter@mrhasanmushrif

Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said that the government will try for the release of the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti members who have been arrested. He added that the Maharashtra government will lodge a complaint with their Karnataka counterpart.

Police atrocities have been reported from the border areas where the Samiti has been protesting for the merger of Belagavi with Maharashtra claiming the district has a substantial Marathi population.

Also read: Security stepped up across Belagavi as 10-day Karnataka Legislature session begins

The Karnataka police allegedly lathicharged MLA Hasan Mushrif of NCP, a former Maharashtra minister, with lathis when he went to support the agitation. He tweeted that he was peacefully marching with the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti members, "but we were beaten with lathis. It is unfortunate that a public representative was treated this way, along with peaceful protesters".

MP Dhairyashil Mane of the Shinde Shiv Sena was denied entry into Belagavi on Monday, as Section 144 was in place there. Mane had sought permission from the Belagavi collector, who said no in the name of law and order.

Opposition leader Ajit Pawar raised the issue in the lower house and members of the upper house also demanded to know what was the Maharashtra government's next move.

Fadnavis told the upper house that the government was in support of the Marathi-speaking people in Karnataka. "The Union government has intervened in the matter and we presented our side to Home Minister Amit Shah. It is not possible to resolve a 60-year-old issue in an hour. People have the right to protest in a democratic manner. It is wrong to arrest Marathi-speaking people. We will try to get them released," he said.

The border dispute, which is pending in the Supreme Court, has intensified over the past fortnight. Violence against protesters and inciting statements by the Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai led to the intervention of Amit Shah.

The Union minister met the CMs and home ministers of both the states, and suggested forming of a six-minister committee to resolve the local issues and asked both states not to escalate the dispute.

Bommai has said politicians from Maharashtra were welcome to his state.

Fadnavis also said that the government has sanctioned a fund of Rs 2,000 crore for villages in the Sangli district that have demanded a merger with Karnataka. The fund is for the Mhaisal lift irrigation scheme and several others.