Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray and Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar released a book published by the state government.
It is titled ‘Maharashtra-Karnataka Seemavad: Sangharsh Aani Sankalp’ (Maharashtra-Karnataka Boundary Dispute: Struggle and Pledge).
What is the book about?
The book is a collection of articles, news, and other material on the demand that Marathi-speaking areas in Karnataka should be integrated into Maharashtra.
The matter has been in the Supreme Court since 2004.
Thackeray said that until the Supreme Court gives its verdict on the dispute, the areas should be declared a Union Territory.
On the other hand, Pawar said that the government must make all legal efforts to ensure a favourable verdict in the apex court.
What is the dispute on?
Maharashtra has staked claim to over 7,000 sq km area along its border with Karnataka.
This comprises of 814 villages in the districts of Belagavi (Belgaum), Uttara Kannada, Bidar, and Gulbarga, and the towns of Belagavi, Karwar, and Nippani.
All these areas are predominantly Marathi-speaking.
Maharashtra wants them to be merged with the state.
How did this originate?
The genesis of the dispute lies in the reorganisation of states along linguistic and administrative lines in 1956.
The erstwhile Bombay Presidency was a multilingual province.
It included the present-day Karnataka districts of Vijayapura, Belagavi, Dharwad, and Uttara Kannada.
In 1948, the Belgaum municipality requested that the district, having a predominantly Marathi-speaking population, be incorporated into the proposed Maharashtra state.
However, The States Reorganisation Act of 1956 made Belgaum and 10 talukas of Bombay State a part of the then Mysore State (which was renamed Karnataka in 1973).
While demarcating borders, the Reorganisation of States Commission sought to include talukas with a Kannada-speaking population of more than 50% in Mysore.
But the opponents of the region’s inclusion in Mysore have maintained that in 1956, Marathi-speakers outnumbered Kannada-speakers in those areas.
How significant is the issue?
Political parties in Maharashtra are united on the merger of the border areas with the state.
The dispute features in every election manifesto of the Congress, NCP, Shiv Sena, and BJP.
Over the last six decades, every Governor’s address to the joint session of the Maharashtra Assembly and Council has mentioned the border dispute.
What are the recent incidents?
Maharashtra CM Thackeray recently referred to the contentious areas as “Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra” in the Assembly.
He also named two senior ministers to a co-ordination committee to oversee the expeditious resolution of the case in favour of Maharashtra in the Supreme Court.
Following this, tensions flared on both sides of the border.
This is not the first time that this matter has arisen in the last 13 months of the Maha Vikas Aghadi (MVA) coalition government.
But bus services between Kolhapur (Maharashtra) and Belgaum (Karnataka) had to be suspended for a few days after the recent tensions.
What is Karnataka’s response?
The BJP government in Karnataka has accused Maharashtra of seeking to incite violence on the border dispute.
Karnataka Chief Minister B S Yediyurappa has vowed he would “not part with an inch of land”.
Yediyurappa said that the Mahajan Commission had “long ago settled the dispute.”
What is the Mahajan Commission?
The Mahajan Commission was set up by the Government of India in October 1966 to look into the border dispute.
The Commission, led by former Chief Justice of India Mehr Chand Mahajan, submitted its report in August 1967.
It recommended that 264 villages should be transferred to Maharashtra, and that Belgaum and 247 villages should remain with Karnataka.
However, Maharashtra rejected the report, calling it biased and illogical, while Karnataka welcomed it.
Despite demands from Karnataka, the Centre never implemented the recommendations of the report.
And irrespective of the party in power, both states have from the beginning struck to their positions.
