Some ministers and local leaders are engaged in ‘Marathi appeasement’ politics and causing harm to Belagavi, claims KRV leader Narayana Gowda

Minor girl’s parents release video statement saying they would take back the POCSO case filed by them against the NWKRTC bus conductor, do not want to be the cause of a fight over language. Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president Narayana Gowda claims that some ministers and leaders harm Belagavi by engaging in ‘Marathi appeasement’ politics.

‘Anti-Kannada activities’ continue in Belagavi because a few local leaders are supporting anti-social elements for vote bank politics. The ‘Marathi appeasement politics’ of some ministers and other leaders has cost Belagavi greatly, alleged Karnataka Rakshana Vedike president Narayana Gowda in Belagavi on February 25.

“These local leaders are allowing Marathi groups to engage in violence against Kannada speakers in Belagavi for their own selfish interests,” he alleged. “They are even forcing officers to file false cases against Kannada activists. Even in the case of the NWKRTC conductor who got beaten, we have information that a Minister forced the police to file a case against the conductor under POCSO Act. A Minister has said that she has got votes from Marathi speakers. Does she mean that she has not got any votes from Kannada speakers? We want to tell these politicians to stop such appeasement, or go and settle in Maharashtra.”

He did not take the name of Women and Child Development Minister Laxmi Hebbalkar, while hinting at her.

He warned of an indefinite protest if Belagavi politicians did not change their ways, adding that KRV is ready to ‘take the law in their hands to teach a lesson to miscreants’. He, however, hastened to add, “But then, we do not want to do that”, urging police to act swiftly.

Meanwhile, the government of Karnataka has transferred Gururaj Kalyanshetty, circle inspector of Marihal police station, in which the alleged incident occurred.

In another development, the minor girl’s parents released a video statement saying they would take back the POCSO case filed by them against the conductor. “There was an altercation in the bus over a ticket. But unfortunately, some vested interests turned it into a Kannada-Marathi fight. We do not want to be part of this. We are taking the case back,” the father and mother of the girl said in the video.

They also said that they were not under any political influence either to file the case or to withdraw it. “We are Marathi speaking people, but we have never hated Kannada. We have been living in Belagavi for decades. We do not want our family to be the cause for any fight over language,’‘ they said. The girl, her parents and her sister appeared in the footage.