BJP-ruled States caught in ‘border disputes’

Karnataka is at loggerheads with the BJP-supported Maharashtra government, while BJP-ruled Assam is having a dispute with National People’s Party government in Meghalaya.

Hyderabad: All is not well in a few BJP-ruled States with border disputes with neighbouring States turning quite serious, reflecting the dark side of the much-boasted ‘double engine’ governance.

Down south, the BJP-ruled Karnataka is at loggerheads with the BJP-supported Maharashtra government. Similarly, the BJP-ruled Assam is having a dispute with National People’s Party government in Meghalaya.

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Last week, six people, including an Assam Forest Guard, were killed and several others injured during a clash between the Assam Police and a mob, around 3 am in an area bordering the West Karbi Anglong district of Assam and Mukroh village in Meghalaya’s West Jaintia Hills. Both Meghalaya and Assam governments have called for detailed investigation into the incident by a central agency.

However, even as BJP-ruled States were slugging it out over borders, union Home Minister Amit Shah, participating in a programme in New Delhi last week, claimed that Prime Minister Narendra Modi had ”ended” the distance that used to be there between North East India and “Mainstream India”.

At the same time, the verbal duel between leaders of BJP-ruled Karnataka and the BJP-supported Maharashtra Government over merger of some villages into Karnataka is getting quite acerbic.

According to reports, Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai claimed that some villages in Maharashtra’s Sangli district, which are facing a water crisis, passed a resolution seeking a merger with Karnataka.

Countering his remarks, Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis said no such village had sought a merger with Karnataka. No village in Maharashtra would go to Karnataka, he said. Throwing his weight behind Fadnavis, Maharashtra Chief Minister Eknath Shinde said Maharashtra would not let got of even an inch of land to others.

A Special Committee was constituted by union government to address the issue and a case now lies before the Supreme Court of India.

In Telangana, the BJP-led union government had forcefully merged five villages with Andhra Pradesh for constructing the Polavaram project and triggered differences between the two Telugu States. People in the five villages of Yetapaka, Kannaigude, Pichukalapadu, Purushothampatnam and Gundala villages, which are now in Andhra Pradesh, are demanding a merger with Telangana.

Despite the Telangana government pointing out that this would help in extending the karakatta in those villages to avoid flooding of villages near Bhadrachalam on the banks of River Godavari, the Centre is looking the other way.