UPA has no time for Marathi-speakers in Karnataka: Shiv Sena

The Shiv Sena today criticised the Congress-led governments at the Centre and in Maharashtra for turning a blind eye to the state's long-pending boundary dispute with Karnataka.

The party mouthpiece, Saamna, said in today's editorial that Congress deputed four of its top ministers to meet Baba Ramdev recently, but had never lent a sympathetic ear to the Marathi-speakers in Belgaum, Karwar and Nippani (in Karnataka) who had been demanding inclusion into Maharashtra for the last 50 years.

"On June 1, 1986, people in Belgaum, Karwar and other areas protested against the forcible imposition of Kannada language on them. Eight Marathi-speaking people were killed in the indiscriminate firing by the Karnataka police. Two days ago, there was a demonstration to commemorate 25th anniversary of that protest, and to pay homage to the eight martyrs. How long we should continue  paying homage to our own people?" the editorial said.

Not a single Maharashtrian minister in the union cabinet would dare to take a stand on this issue, it said. While almost the entire cabinet  went to meet Ramdev and persuade him not to go ahead with his fast, the Centre had no time for 20 lakh Marathi-speakers in Karnataka, the editorial added.