Ifshahcanresolvej&kissue, he cantacklebelgaumtoo:raut
Sena leader seeks home minister’s intervention, says party will accept SC verdict
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut sought Union home minister Amit Shah’s intervention in the Belgaum border issue, amid escalating tensions between Karnataka and Maharashtra. Raut, who was in Belgaum over the weekend to participate in a cultural event, said the border dispute between the two states can be resolved if Shah wants. “If the home ministry can resolve the Kashmir issue and abrogate Article 370, I think this [Belgaum] border issue, too, can be resolved, if Amit Shah wants. The matter comes under the home ministry, [he’s] a strong home minister who abrogates Article 370...It’s a long-pending issue. He should pay attention to this too,” Raut told ANI in Belgaum on Sunday. Maharashtra moved the Supreme Court over the dispute in March 2006, claiming that 2,806 sq miles, covering 814 villages, and three urban settlements of Belgaum, Karwar and Nippani, were all part of the Mumbai Presidency before independence.
The dispute between the two states has been simmering for decades. The tension in border areas increased further after
MOS for health, Rajendra Patil-yedravkar, was detained in Belgaum and not allowed to speak at a meeting organised by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti. He had gone to Belgaum to pay respects to the martyrs of the United Maharashtra movement. He was allegedly manhandled.
Sena MP Sanjay Raut (in pic)
has sought Union home minister Amit Shah’s intervention.
Raut, who was in
chief minister Uddhav Thackeray called Belgaum district “Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra”. On January 17, minister of state for health Rajendra Patil-yedravkar was detained in Belgaum and not allowed to speak at a meeting organised by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti.
Raut on Sunday said the party will accept the Supreme Court’s verdict on the matter. The Sena leader said, “Marathi people in Belgaum and adjacent areas have been fighting for the past 70 years to be included in Maharashtra. The matter has been
Belgaum over the weekend, said the border dispute between the two states can be resolved if
Shah wants. “The matter comes under the home ministry, [he’s] a strong home minister.. He should pay attention to this too.” He said the party will accept SC’S verdict
on the matter
He also appealed
to the Karnataka CM that the border issue shouldn’t be converted into “language” dispute, and said he’ll speak to CM Uddhav Thackeray.
sub-judice for the past 14 years. We will accept whatever the Supreme Court decides.”
He also appealed to Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa that the border issue should not be converted into a “language” dispute, and added he will speak to Thackeray. “Lakhs of Marathi people live here, they’ll follow their language and culture. I’d like to appeal to Karnataka CM to set aside the border dispute, but don’t get into language dispute. I’ll also speak to CM Thackeray that both the CMS should discuss urgent remedies,” he said.
MUMBAI: Shiv Sena leader Sanjay Raut on Sunday slammed the Centre saying that those who oppose the government are being branded traitors like it once happened in Russia, Iraq, China and Hitler’s Germany. The MP, in his weekly column Rokthok, also backed poet Faiz Ahmed Faiz’s poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’ and hit out at all those terming him “antihindu”.
“Revolutionary literature has always been created in India. Veer Savarkar’s literature was confiscated by the British. What happened in that era shouldn’t happen today...once upon a time in Russia, political opponents were tagged enemy of the revolution and put behind bars. Similar things happened in China. Nothing different happened in Iraq and Hitler’s Germany. Today in our country those who speak against the government are branded traitors,” Raut wrote.
The Sena leader backed Pakistani poet Faiz and said he has been “made anti-india by the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP)”. “Faiz was an enemy of the Pakistan
army. He has been made anti-india by the BJP now,” Raut wrote. He also said that a section in the country aimed to curb freedom and was sowing the seeds of “Taliban civilization”. His statement comes against the backdrop of the Indian Institute of Technology in Kanpur announcing it would set up a panel to investigate if Faiz’s iconic poem ‘Hum Dekhenge’ was “anti-hindu”.
The Shiv Sena MP also wrote that when the late BJP leader Atal Bihari Vajpayee was the external affairs minister in the first non-congress Union government, he had broken protocol to meet Faiz in Pakistan during an official visit. He said “restriction of religion and borders can’t be put on poets like Faiz”.
Remarking on the backlash over actor Deepika Padukone’s visit to Jawaharlal Nehru University (JNU) after the attack on students and teachers, Raut said, “Therefore, Deepika was termed the enemy of the revolution on India. Hurdles will be put in her way. Her advertisements will be banned now.”