The decades-old border dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka escalated into a political slugfest this week after both state leaders engaged in the war of words over which state should have the ownership of certain border areas.
Belgaum or Belagavi, which is currently part of Karnataka, and other border areas are claimed by Maharashtra. This issue has been pending before the Supreme Court for several years now. However, it has erupted into a firestorm after the Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray said that his government is committed to incorporating those areas of Karnataka where Marathi-speaking people are in majority.
In a reply to Thackeray’s claim, Karnataka Deputy Chief Minister Laxman Savadi hit a notch higher and said that Mumbai should be included in Karnataka and, until that is done, Centre must declare Mumbai as a Union Territory.
In 2019, deputy chief minister Ajit Pawar too had called for the incorporation of Belgaum (Belagavi), Karwar and Nipani areas of Karnataka into Maharashtra which he said was also a dream of Shiv Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray.
Here is everything you need to know about the border dispute:
How did this dispute start?
The border dispute has its origin in the States Reorganisation Act of 1956. The law made Belgaum and 10 talukas of Bombay State, once part of colonial Bombay Presidency, a part of the then Mysore state. The act divided states on linguistic lines on August 31, 1956, and became effective from November 1, 1956.
Since then, Maharashtra has opposed the move arguing that Belgaum, Nipani and Karwar had a majority of Marathi speaking population and should have been part of the state.
The actual dispute is for over 800-odd villages in two Karnataka border districts, Gulbarga and Belgaum.
Maharashtra and Karnataka’s claim
In 1957, the Maharashtra government officially demanded readjustment of its border with Karnataka. It invoked Section 21 (2) (b) of the Act and submitted a memorandum to the Ministry of Home Affairs stating its objection to Marathi-speaking areas being added to Karnataka.
The claim involved an area of 2,806 square miles that involved 814 villages, and three urban settlements of Belagavi, Karwar and Nippani with a total population of about 6.7 lakh, all part of the Mumbai Presidency before independence.
Moreover, the Maharashtra government had in 2004 approached the apex court, seeking resolution of the border dispute under Article 131(b) of the Constitution. This case is still pending.
Karnataka, on the other hand, maintains that Belagavi is an integral part of the state and has built the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, modelled after the Vidhana Soudha, the state secretariat in Bengaluru, where a legislative session is held once a year. Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa had in November reiterated that the state considers Mahajan Commission report to be final.
Mahajan Commission Report
The Mahajan Commission, under former Chief Justice Mehr Chand Mahajan, was formed in October 1966 to resolve the issue after the then Bombay government in September 1957 had lodged a protest with the Centre.
The Commission had in August 1967 recommended that 264 villages be transferred to Maharashtra and that Belgaum and 247 villages remain with Karnataka.
While Maharashtra had rejected the report, calling it biased and illogical, and demanded another review, Karnataka welcomed the report and has ever since continued to press for implementation. Although this has not been formally done by the Centre.
The present situation
Maharashtra continues to press with its demand that 814 villages from Karnataka be transferred to the state after the linguistic population of each state is counted.
The Shiv Sena-led Maharashtra Vikas Aghadi (MVA), which is the ruling alliance in the state, is keen to take up the issue. Ajit Pawar, a leader of MVA constituent Nationalist Congress Party (NCP), had said earlier that Sena founder Balasaheb Thackeray had struggled his entire life to unite Maharashtra by including Belgaum, Karwar and Nipani.
After Uddhav Thackeray became the chief minister under the Maha Vikas Aghadi government in 2019, he appointed ministers Chhagan Bhujbal and Eknath Shinde as coordinators to oversee the state’s efforts to expedite the case filed in the Supreme Court related to the dispute.
Whereas, Karnataka had declared Belagavi its second capital, changed the name of Belgaum to Belagavi. The southern state holds its winter session at the newly constructed Vidhan Soudha, and also held the World Kannada Summit there.
Locals of border areas’ stand
The Marathi speaking people in these areas have been protesting for inclusion in Maharashtra for five decades and have often alleged that Karnataka government has been trying to suppress their agitation as well as imposing Kannada language on them.
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