Shiv Sena leaders meet Amit Shah, seek sedition charge on those who defaced Shivaji statue

On Sunday, a Shiv Sena delegation called on Union Home Minister Amit Shah during his Pune visit seeking his intervention into the desecration of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj's statue in Bengaluru.  This comes even as Shah launched a frontal attack on Sena for betraying the cause of Hindutva in 2019 for the sake of power. After submitting a memorandum to Shah, the Uddhav Thackeray-led party's Pune unit chief Sanjay More highlighted the irony of the Union Home Minister laying the foundation of a statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj in the city while a condemnable incident took place in the neighbouring state. 

More was quoted as saying by PTI, "We met Amitji today and handed over a memorandum seeking to register an offence under the charges of sedition against those who are responsible for the incident that took place in Bengaluru". "In the letter, we stated that such acts are happening in Karnataka repeatedly and it should be stopped somewhere and such tendencies should be nipped in the bud," he added. Meanwhile, the Sena leaders urged Shah to "rein in" Karnataka CM Basavaraj Bommai for allegedly describing the incident as "trifle". 

Reportedly upset with Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti activists' protest against the state government's decision to conduct the Assembly session in Belagavi, some miscreants smeared black ink on the statue of Chhatrapati Shivaji Maharaj located at Bashyam Circle in Sadashivnagar on December 16. This was followed by the desecration of the Sangoli Rayanna statue in Belagavi. While 7 persons have been arrested in connection with the defacement of the great Marathi ruler's statue, the prohibitory order in Belagavi under Section 144 of the CrPC has been extended till 6 am on December 22. 

Dispute over Belagavi

There has been a longstanding dispute between Maharashtra and Karnataka over the status of predominantly Marathi-speaking regions such as Belagavi. Speaking in the Maharashtra Assembly on December 20, 2019, Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray re-ignited the tensions as he referred to these areas as 'Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra'. Moreover, he accused the BJP government in Karnataka of oppressing the Marathi-speaking people. 

Maharashtra Chief Minister Uddhav Thackeray remarked, "Like PoK, there is a Karnataka-occupied Maharashtra. People in Belagavi are not only Hindus but also Marathi-speaking people and wanted to be part of Maharashtra. However, they are facing oppression from the BJP-led government in Karnataka. Even for speaking the truth, the Belagavi mayor was booked for treason."

However, ex-Karnataka CM BS Yediyurappa rubbished the possibility of merging border areas such as Belagavi, Karwar and Nipani with Maharashtra.  He maintained that the findings of the Mahajan Committee report should be accepted. He was referring to a commission formed in 1966 under Meher Chand Mahajan, a former Supreme Court judge, to look into the dispute between Karnataka and Maharashtra. Maharashtra had refused to comply with the committee's report as it rejected the state's claim on Belagavi.