BELGAUM: Will Chief Minister H.D. Kumaraswamy be able to wean away Marathi-speaking people from the influence of groups that want areas populated by the linguistic minority to be included in Maharashtra?

The Chief Minister's statement that he "wants to win the hearts of the Marathi-speaking people through love and affection and not by confrontation or coercion" has opened new avenues that may help find a solution to the border dispute that has soured relations between the two States.

In fact, his statement has enthused at least a few Marathi youths as they concede that they have never seen a Chief Minister being so humble towards the linguistic minority. "That's a good step, a welcome initiative... now we have to respond," a Marathi youth said. But he has his own doubts over whether the Marathi leadership will reciprocate in a positive manner or continue to tread the path of antagonism that has alienated the Marathi-speaking people in the State from the mainstream.

The Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi, which is spearheading the movement to get Belgaum included in Maharashtra, is a case in point. Candidates of the party have been winning elections to the Belgaum City Corporation, taluk panchayats in Belguam and Khanapur and the Assembly constituencies of Belgaum, Khanapur and Uchagaon, with the party's election plank being the alleged injustice being meted out to the linguistic minority.

It was only in 1999 that the MES suffered a major setback when it lost to a "Kannadiga" contesting on a Congress ticket. While Khanapur and Uchagaon continued to remain its strongholds, it could not retain the Belgaum seat in the last Assembly polls. Realising that the problem was also owing to the lack of unity among Marathi corporators, it succeeded in reuniting them under the leadership of former Mayor Vijay Pandurang More, who was unceremoniously evicted from office when the Government dissolved the Belgaum City Corporation council in November 2005.

`Gadinadu Utsav'

The State Government took the initiative to foster cultural integration by holding the "Gadinadu Utsav" in Belgaum, which concluded on Saturday night. The weeklong cultural festival was an occasion which the organisers, the district administration and the Kannada and Culture Department, could have used to convey the State's intention. But the fact that linguistic minorities, including Marathi- and Urdu-speaking people, did not have any role to play in the utsav has raised questions about the Government's commitment to bring estranged linguistic minorities into the mainstream.

That the Marathi-speaking people have opposed the construction of a Kannada Bhavan at Yellur, the heartland of the Marathi movement, is an indication of hurt sentiments. Deputy Chief Minister B.S. Yediyurappa was to lay the foundation stone for the bhavan before participating in the valedictory function of the utsav on Saturday.

But the programme was cancelled after the Marathi-speaking people opposed the construction of the bhavan at Yellur as they saw it as an "attempt to impose Kannada in Marathi land."

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