Mumbai: Marathi people living in Belgaum as well as in some pockets of Karnataka which are close to Maharashtra borders; had always been treated as 'outsiders' and were facing 'onslaught' for the past several years. In a series of incidents of 'discrimination' and attack on Marathi people and its leaders in the past, one such incident took place on Monday, when a leader of Maharashtra Unification Forum, Deepak Dalvi, was the victim. He was attacked by some miscreants and his face was blackened with ink, says Saamana in its editorial.
Taking serious not of the issue, the leaders and ministers of the present ruling alliance in Maharashtra decried the incident. But just criticizing the incident won't make much difference. What was needed is the frequent occurrences of such incidents should be stopped forever. The Maharashtra government must take some concrete steps in that direction. Just flaying the incident won't be sufficient.
The Marathi people living close to Karnataka-Maharashtra border have been facing 'atrocities' by the miscreants in Karnataka for the past 60-65 years and it should be controlled at the earliest.
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Nonetheless, the solidarity among Marathi speaking has weakened over a period of time, but there is forum, which is fighting for the cause of people living in Karnataka. So, leaders of Maharashtra should come forward to strengthen the hands of those people who are fighting for the 'Marathi identity'.
On the other hand, in the recently held Belgaum civic body elections, the Marathi Unification Forum suffered a defeat; and BJP leaders left no stone unturned for ensuring the defeat of Forum leaders. The BJP leaders were found distributing sweets, when they learnt defeat of Forum leaders in the Belgaum civic body elections.
Two ministers from Maharashtra have been deputed to look into the recent incident in which Dalvi was attacked. Among the two ministers, one is Eknath Shinde, who is a seasoned leader to take up the issue, adds Saamana.
The Karnataka state celebrates its formation day on November 1, whereas on this day, the Marathi people living in Karnataka boycott the bash and treat it as 'Black Day'. Police baton-charged Marathi people, it they took out rally on this day.
The Union government should intervene into the matter and declare those areas where Marathi people are living in Karnataka as Union Territory, till the matter is resolved by the Supreme Court.
