Vatal Nagaraj seeks ban on MES, calls for State-wide bandh on March 22

Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader demands ban on MES in Belagavi, threatens Karnataka bandh on March 22.

Kannada Chaluvali Vatal Paksha leader Vatal Nagaraj has demanded that the State government issue orders banning the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES) in Belagavi.

He warned it of disrupting the winter session of the Assembly in Belagavi, if the ban orders are not passed till then. His party will organise a Karnataka bandh on March 22, Mr. Nagaraj said, while leading a protest rally in Belagavi on Monday.

He accused MES of inciting violence and disrupting harmony in the region. Such anti-Kannada organisations should not be allowed to operate, as they threaten the unity and peace of Karnataka.

“They should be outlawed. We have been urging successive governments to ban MES and other anti-Kannada organisations like the Shiv Sena. But they have not fulfilled our demand. We requested then Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai also. But it was not done. We demand that Chief Minister Siddaramaiah issue the ban orders. They are creating all sorts of troubles in Belagavi. They are making life difficult for Kannada speakers in the border areas,” he said.

“People in Bengaluru do not know what is happening in Belagavi,’‘ he said. He also demanded that the State government should strictly enforce the language policy of the State, including display of Kannada prominently in name boards. He said the state government had to hold a cabinet meeting in Belagavi every year and that Ministers and secretaries of all departments should hold public grievance redressal meetings in the Suvarna Soudha every month, on rotation. He said that some local politicians of various parties were found supporting the MES and other pro-Marathi activists in Belagavi.

“KCVP activists will boycott such Ministers and legislators,” he said.

He said that Kannada organisations like his party will stand in support of Kannada speakers in Belagavi all the time. The pro-Marathi organisations in Belagavi should understand that Belagavi is an integral part of Karnataka and it can never be ceded to Maharashtra or any other State.