Belgaum: Which side of the border?

The Kannada pride in Surpallis voice is unmistakable and defiant,so is the red-yellow flag of the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike that flutters atop his house.

This is the Wadgaon area of Belgaum city,where several Kannadiga families weave fine silk and gold threads to make Paithani sarees,a name thats ironically identified with a Maharashtra town,Paithan,98 km away from Belgaum. The mention of the irony doesnt go down too well here,just as any mention of Maharashtras claims on Belgaum doesnt.

Paithan and Paithani might be Maharashtrian names but it is we Kannadigas who produce it and are proud of it, says Surpallis son Subhash.

Last week,the Central government filed an affidavit in the Supreme Court,saying Maharashtra couldnt claim jurisdiction over 865 villages in Belgaum,Karwar,Bidar and Gulbarga districts of Karnataka just because they had Marathi-speaking people in majority (the largest chunk of these villages lies in Belgaum district). This has set off a fresh round of claims and counterclaims here in Belgaum,where languages and border have remained hot-button issues for decades,ever since the States Reorganisation Act of 1956 made the district a part of Karnataka.

The city of Belgaum today has a population of 9.57 lakh with 3.6 lakh speaking Marathi,3 lakh Kannada and 1.7 lakh people speaking Urdu. Though that gives Marathi speakers a numerical edge,there are several pockets,especially the weavers colonies of Bharat Nagar and Muth Galli that are known for their strong Kannada roots. Here,the Karnataka flag is hoisted as a show of strength and every shop proudly bears signboards in Kannada.

It was this pride that made Srinivas Yellappa Talukar print 10,000 stickers,15 years ago,urging the government and the people to change the name of Belgaum to Belagavi. Belgaum is a corrupted name. Bela-Gavi in Kannada means the village of farmers. If Bombay and Calcutta could be changed,why not Belgaum, he asks.

Talukar blames Belgaums Marathi speakers for the divide in Belgaum turning parochial. They would pelt stones at us or beat us if we talk in Kannada. Why should we suffer this injustice in our birth land, he says.

Today,most parts of the city and even the official board at Belgaums border with Maharashtra says Belagavi.

Kasturi B Bavvi gave up wearing her footwear six years ago,asking for the Kannada flag to be hoisted atop the Belgaum Corporation and protesting against the border village of Yellur identifying itself with Maharashtra.

We are not allowed to hoist our flag even though we are in a majority. And even if we would try and speak in Marathi,they dont accept our language, she says.

To celebrate Kannada and counter Marathi,every border village holds the government-funded Gadinadu Utsav annually. Here,Kannadigas display their skills through music,dance,literature and art. The government has already announced the World Kannada Conference in the city that is scheduled to be held in the next few months.

Artistes from across the world will showcase their skills here. We would gladly welcome Maharashtrians on to the dais if they want to join us, says Anantkumar Bykude,state president,Karnataka Yuva Vedike,a pro-Kannada youth platform.

Like the special assembly session that the Karnataka government held in Belgaum in 2006,these are largely symbolic measures but in Belgaum,symbolism is everywhere.

And language is the biggest of them. So while Marathi speakers ask for 865 villages to be merged with Maharashtra,the Kannadigas talk about Akkalkot,Solapur,Jattha and Kolhapur areas,traditional Kannada-speaking strongholds in Maharashtra,which they say should be handed over to Karnataka.

You cannot keep on dividing the country and declare Belgaum a union territory, says state president,Karnataka Rakshana Vedike,T A Narayanagowda. If anyone wants to go,they can join Maharashtra. Belgaums land will remain with Karnataka.

Of the 865 disputed villages385 in Belgaum,299 in Karwar and 181 in Bidarin Karnataka,the Mahajan panel constituted in 1966 had recommended the merger of only 264 villages with Maharashtra but rejected its claim on Belgaum city. The Maharashtra government rejected the commissions recommendation. On March 29,2004,Maharashtra filed a suit in the SC,claiming that the 865 villages were wrongly included in Karnataka.

Belgaums Kannadigas say Marathi speakers are fed up of the border issue after 56 years. There were 11 Marathi-speaking MLAs from the border villages in the Karnataka assembly,now there is no one. And anyway,the final decision will be of the Mahajan Commission, says Krishna Dhage,a die-hard Kannadiga.

Marathi cause

Here in Belgaum,where language splits the district down the middle,14 years ago,a love story blossomed between Marathi-speaking Sunil Balkundre and Kannada-speaking Manda Kalpatri. Language then was the last thing on their mindsit was love,says Mandaso she married the former corporator who had devoted his life to the Marathi cause.

Manda took over her husbands mantleand his fierce Marathi causeafter the local body seat was reserved for women. She now represents her Marathi ward in the Belgaum Corporation and insists she is the only Kannadiga by birth amongst the 31 Marathi-speaking corporators. What they are doing is wrong. Just as they are proud of their language,so are the Maharashtrians. You cannot force your culture and language on the Marathi people, she says.

Husband Balkundre sits next to her,nursing five stitches on his upper liphe had to face the Karnataka polices lathi for refusing to bring down a saffron Maharashtra flag that was hoisted in the District Collectors office last week during a protest against the Centres affidavit on Belgaum.

I refuse to learn the Kannada languagehave never spoken it in my entire life nor will I utter it ever, he speaks softly; his bandaged lips dont allow him much aggression. Three years ago,when Balkundre,a witness in a case where Marathi mayor Vijay Mores face was blackened,had to speak in the Karnataka High Court,he refused to do so in Kannada. I was willing to talk in Hindi or English but the court told me only Kannada would be accepted. I refused and the case is still pending.

But there are those who have learned to move on,however grudgingly. J V Khandekar remembers the anger he felt when he saw Karnataka written on his high school mark-sheet. Today,in the heart of Belgaum,in the Marathi gali of Bhagyanagar,his two grandchildren,six-year-old Ayush and 11-year-old Yuvraj,sit with their Kannada books. See how cruel life is, says the veteran professor. The language for which we fought is today not even taught to my grandchildren; instead the language which we stayed away from is what they are well-versed in, he says.

Belgaum city has numerous pockets and alleys,where the Marathi speakers have been co-existing with their Kannadiga counterparts for years,even before the border issue heated up in the 1980s. The issue got out of hand because they forced their language on us. Just as they respect their culture and language,so do we, says B O Aetoji,a resident of Bhagyanagar.

The Marathi-speaking residents complain that over the last seven years,there has been a systematic repression of the Marathi languagein government documents,stationery,schools and hospitals.

People are also upset with the Maharashtra government and the states politicians. Bal Thackeray had said give us power for a day and we will solve the border row. The Shiv Sena got its chance both in Maharashtra and at the Centre. What did they do? asks Arvind Patil from Khanapur taluka,one of the disputed areas at the border.

People in Mumbai and Maharashtra say we should let go off the border issue and think of development, says former MLA Manohar Kinekar. But after suffering so many blows,we do not care if we our areas are under-developed or neglected. All we want is to be part of Maharashtra.

Some 12 km away from the tense calm of Belgaum city lies Yellur. Twenty-five years ago,without waiting for the official confirmation by Maharashtra,Karnataka,the Central government or even the Supreme Court,the village unilaterally declared itself part of Maharashtra state. And last week,Yellur unanimously shut down to protest the Centres affadivit on Belgaum. A signpost announcing Yellur,Maharashtra Rajya and a saffron flag welcome people to the village.

There have been many efforts to pull down the flag and demolish the post but no one has managed to do that, says 82-year-old Venkatesh Dhulapatakar,who is considered a freedom fighter in the border row. I am born here but my umbilical chord is in Maharashtra and no one can cut that, he says.

Fighting for peace

Fed up of fights over Belgaum,a group of 200 youngsters headed by Mahesh Kugaji have formed the Rajiv Gandhi Brigade,affiliated with the Congress,to look into developmental issues.

Even if Belgaum is merged with Maharashtra,we will remain on this land. The only difference is that instead of Karnataka,we will have to write Maharashtra, says Shakeel Mullah,whose father once fought for the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti,a leading Marathi outfit in Belgaum. We want development and jobs,which are unfortunately going to Dharwad and Hubli, says Kugaji. The group says the strategic location of Belgaum,with access to Maharashtra,Karnataka and Goa,offers tremendous business potential.

Prakash Bandiwadkar,who had earlier joined the Karnataka Rakshana Vedike,is now part of this brigade. I had thought the KRV would be able to do something good for Belgaum but they too are fighting over an issue that seems unsolvable.