Black day rally: ‘Stringent action will be taken against MES’, says Satish Jarkiholi

Belagavi: District Minister Satish Jarkiholi said on Friday that stringent action would be taken against the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) leaders and workers for going ahead with its black day rally on Kannada Rajyotsava day despite the administration denying permission for the same.

“MES menace has come down compared to previous years.  Kannada and Kannadigas supremacy has overshadowed the MES movement in Belagavi. A few MES leaders and workers were behind it (black day rally). We didn’t want to create a scene by arresting those involved on Rajyotsava day. The police will look into it and arrest those who took part in the rally and raised anti-Kannada slogans,” Jarkiholi told reporters after the Rajyotsava day event here.

Meanwhile, leaders and activists of MES, wearing black shirts, black turbans and black bands, took part in the black day rally that began from Sambhaji Garden on the Mahadwar Road, and culminated in the premises of Maratha Mandir near the railway over bridge. They went ahead with the rally despite the district administration denying permission.

MES working president and former MLA Manohar Kinekar said, “We are protesting against the inclusion of Marathi-speaking areas into Karnataka during the reorganisation of the states in the year 1956 and express our wish to be part of Maharashtra. The Marathi-speaking areas were part of Mumbai Province before the reorganisation of states. We have been observing black day since the reorganisation of states.”

The MES has been demanding merger of several Marathi-speaking areas and villages, including Belagavi, Nippani, Khanapur, Karwar, Bidar, Bhalki, with Maharashtra state. Karnataka, however, maintains that the demarcation done on linguistic lines as per the States Reorganisation Act and the 1967 Mahajan Commission Report is final.