Pro-Kannada outfits oppose Marathi Mela

Members of the action committee of the district Kannada organisations have demanded that permission should not be given to hold the ‘Maha Melav’, a convention planned by the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samithi (MES) at Yellur near the city on May 20.

They submitted a memorandum to Deputy Commissioner V Anbukumar on Monday, urging him not to permit the meeting, as such conventions had led to violence and harmed linguistic harmony in the past.

The action committee members gave him documentary proof about violence resulting from such meetings in the past.

MES was trying to get leaders from Maharashtra to attend the convention and this might vitiate the atmosphere, the memorandum said.

“MES has been demanding for 50 years that Belgaum should be merged with Maharashtra. In the name of agitation, MES is trying to vitiate the atmosphere in Belgaum. The outfit wants to take political mileage out of the arising situation,” they told the Deputy Commissioner.

Former mayor Siddangouda Patil, Ashok Chandargi, Ramesh Sontakki, T T Murkatnal and Mainuddin Makandar were present.

Meanwhile, activists of the Karnataka Navanirman Pade (KNP) offered prayers at the Ganesh Temple at Chennamma Circle, for a ban on MES. Rajeev Toppannavar, Deepak Gudganatti, Bhupal Attu and others were present.

Letter to CM

Meanwhile, the Kannada Development Authority (KDA) Chairperson Mukhyamantri Chandru has urged Chief Minister D V Sadananda Gowda not to accord permission to Shiva Sena and MES to organise the proposed Maha Melav at Yellur in Belgaum district.

In a letter dated May 5, 2012 addressed to the chief minister, Chandru alleged that Shiva Sena and MES intend to create an atmosphere of hatred among the Kannada-speaking and the Marathi-speaking people in the district by organising the event.

Hence, the permission should not be given for the event, he added.

“We will never object to any event aimed at creating harmony in society and development of any language. But the proposed event is aimed at dividing the people,” he alleged.