Karnataka-Maharashtra border row: Why BJP could gain politically in both states

With the winter session of the Karnataka Legislative Assembly scheduled to be held from December 19 in Belagavi’s Suvarna Vidhana Soudha, the Karnataka-Maharashtra border dispute is set to heat up again.

The construction of Belagavi’s Suvarna Vidhana Soudha started when Karnataka was celebrating its formation day in 2007. It was inaugurated in 2012. A replica of the Suvarna Vidhana Soudha was built in the region mainly to give Maharashtra a message that Belagavi will always be an integral part of Karnataka. 

Also read: Explained: Why Maharashtra and Karnataka are sparring over border

Since then, the winter session of the Assembly has been held there even as the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), the linguistic socio-political committee based out of Belagavi, and the Shiv Sena have whipped up passions in the area about merging a part of Belagavi with Maharashtra.

The prohibitory orders

During the Belgaum session in 2021, the city was on the boil as Kannada activists smeared black ink on the face of an MES worker, who was rooting for the merger of Belgaum with Maharashtra. Shortly after this, the statue of freedom fighter and Kannada legend Sangolli Rayanna was vandalised in Belgaum city. 

This year, too, there are concerns that the Kannada and Maratha groups will raise a ruckus over the border issue during the session.

Political statements ahead of the winter session have not helped scale down the rancour. Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai started the argument by stating that the 42 villages on the Maharashtra side adjacent to the Belagavi border will be merged with Karnataka. The statement was met with extreme reactions from the Maharashtra side. CM Eknath Shinde announced that the state had dispatched two ministers to Belagavi to hold discussions with the EMS. This was the reason for the violent clashes between Kannada and Marathi workers on the border, which triggered prohibitory orders in the border district.

Kannada vs Marathi

While the saffron party is in power in Karnataka, it is also backing the Shinde government in Maharashtra. Since the border dispute is currently pending in the Supreme Court, there was no reason for the crisis to resurface. However, the Belagavi border dispute erupted once again in the last week of November, with 42 villages of Jath Taluka threatening to merge with Karnataka if they are not given basic amenities, including roads and water. 

Also read: Law, politics, emotions: Karnataka-Maharashtra’s 8-decade Belagavi row

A top police official who has been involved with maintaining law and order in the border area told The Federal that there is no chance of a flare-up as the BJP is in command on both sides of the border. In fact, it is believed that while the violent protests may have disrupted the common man’s life for a few days, they have helped the governments on both sides of the border.

The dispute has its roots in a linguistic divide — it pits the Kannada-speaking people against those speaking Marathi. The emotive issue helps the BJP on both sides.

The Assembly session

Sources said that the BJP has been planning out strategies to face the Congress in the Belagavi assembly session as the Opposition is likely to launch a severe attack. The Congress will corner the BJP over major allegations, including the Votegate scam, in which thousands of voters were allegedly deleted from the voters’ list; the issue is complex and has various angles to it. In November, the Congress had lodged a formal complaint with the Election Commission, demanding criminal action against Bommai.

While several officials have been suspended, including two IAS officers, a few accused in the case have been arrested. Though the scam was limited to Bengaluru urban area in the beginning, there is a possibility of it spreading all over the state, with thousands of voters having been deleted from the voters’ list. The Congress has planned to demand a logical conclusion of the case and the BJP is believed to be afraid of the issue making the headlines again.

The BJP government in Karnataka is also facing allegations of 40 per cent commission in the police sub-inspector (PSI) recruitment scam. Besides, there are so many other issues that may land the government in a fix.  

At this juncture, the Belagavi border issue will apparently help the BJP during the winter session as there will be a unanimous voice, cutting across party lines, against Maharashtra during the debate on the dispute. All parties, willingly or unwillingly, will have to support the state against Maharashtra on the Belagavi issue as it has strong emotional connect with the Kannadigas. It is said that the BJP is planning to discuss the Belagavi issue and the Congress and JDS will also participate in the discussion.

The Maharashtra side

At the same time, the BJP-backed Shinde government in Maharashtra will also benefit from the Belagavi issue. All along, the Shiv Sena has been at the forefront of taking up the Belagavi issue. It always supported the MES in raising the issue again and again. This time, however, Shiv Sena leader and former Maharashtra CM Uddhav Thackeray has mellowed down after he lost his post in a coup. His successor Shinde, who is looking to become the leader of the Marathis, is keen to appeal to the emotions of the community.

Thus, according to sources, the Belagavi dispute provides Shinde with a good opportunity. NCP leader Sharad Pawar could not establish himself as the leader of the Marathi community because of Thackeray; his party has always had differences with the Sena.  So, the Shinde faction wants to win over the Marathi communities to emerge as a big leader of the region. It will help the BJP to build their base in Maharashtra, a BJP insider told The Federal.

So, on both sides of the border, the BJP governments are set to get more ‘political’ benefits than the Opposition parties, albeit indirectly. Expressing his view regarding the recent developments, Siddaramaiah, the leader of the Opposition in the Karnataka Assembly, said: “In both Maharashtra and Karnataka, the BJP is in power. Both these governments may be talking and creating a tense situation.” He further said the border dispute has already been settled, as per the Mahajan Commission report. But Maharashtrians are working to keep it alive and excavate it for political reasons, he added.

Instead of reaping political dividends out of the dispute, the governments on both sides have to wait for the court’s verdict to maintain normalcy at the border. At the same time, they have to look at the overall development of the area to ensure that the life of the common man is not hampered by needless protests.