Excerpts from the Mahajan report

“Maharashtra’s claim for Belgaum is of recent origin. Though tabled in Parliament, Maharashtra MPs, especially from the treasury benches, did not vote against the amendment of Belgaum being part of their state. Belgaum is a cosmopolitan city. In 1920, when the AICC session was held there, not a single leader from Maharashtra, including N C Kelkar, demanded that it be part of that state. Geographically, Kannada areas surround Belgaum on three sides and a smattering of villages belonging to Maharashtra on the fourth. Reorganization will cause extreme hardship. Status quo should be maintained. From the record of rights of Belgaum, it’s seen that a majority of lands belong to Kannadigas. All original records in offices of the collector are in Kannada. On the appreciation of the whole material and assessing it objectively, I have reached the conclusion that I can’t recommend inclusion of Belgaum in the state of Maharashtra,’’ Mahajan said.
The ruling Democratic Front (DF) government in Maharashtra will face fresh political crisis following the Union government’s affidavit in the Supreme Court rejecting Maharashtra’s claim to Belgaum, Karwar and other Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka. The Centre’s affidavit has put the DF government on the back foot on the issue and the Shiv Sena seems all set to slam the ruling Congress-NCP combine in the assembly. The monsoon session begins in Mumbai on July 12. Shiv Sena supremo Bal Thackeray set the tone for his party by riling the Centre for rejecting Maharashtra’s legitimate claim to the Marathi-speaking villages in Karnataka. Thackeray said the Centre’s affidavit is a clear indication that New Delhi is unwilling to honour the re-organization of states on linguistic formula. “Now, the Centre should immediately dismantle all the states in the country as they have been created on linguistic considerations,” he added.