Kannada speakers and Marathi speakers clashed on Friday in Peeranwadi, a village in the Belgavi district on the Karnataka – Maharashtra border, over the installation of a statue, prompting a police charge of lathi to separate them. .
The two groups were fighting after the Kannadigas installed a statue of Krantiveera Sangolli Rayanna at the T-junction, a landmark in Peeranwadi, in the early hours of Friday.
Rayanna is a revered freedom fighter who fought against the British as general of Kittur Rani Chenamma. The Marathi-speaking group called the installation “surreptitious” and claimed that the T-junction had already been named after Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj.
There have been tensions between a section of the Kannada and Marathi-speaking population in the district and the latter wants the district to merge with Maharashtra.
The Kuruba (traditional herders) community in Karnataka, who are the third largest caste group in the state after Veerashiva-Lingayats and Vokkaligas, see Rayanna as their community icon.
Even when the local administration said that no permission had been taken for the installation of the statue, the issue became politicized. Former prime minister and JDS leader HD Kumaraswamy tweeted that there was no need to ask anyone for permission to install a statue of the modest freedom fighter in the land of Kannada and condemned the acts of some, whom he described as “wrongdoers. who speak Marathi. “
He issued a warning saying whether it was Shiv Sena or the Maharashtra Ekikarana Samithi (MES) or elsewhere, Kannadigas would not tolerate insult to a son of earth like Rayanna and “they would be taught a proper lesson”.
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The opposition leader in the assembly, Siddaramiah, also said that there would be no compromise in protecting the interests of the state when it comes to “the land, the water, the language or the honor of the great leaders of the state.”
Interior Minister Basavarj Bommai said he had spoken with the district police commissioner and with the IGP.
“The police have been asked to take strict measures to keep the situation under control,” said Bommai, who also consulted Executive Vice President Lakshman Savadi, who hails from the Belgavi district.
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CM Yediyurappa also said that he had spoken with the district administration to make sure the problem was resolved peacefully.
Several Kannada organizations across the state have threatened to take to the streets if the Rayanna statue is removed from the site where it was installed.
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