The government of Karnataka on Monday renamed Mumbai-Karnataka region as 'Kittur Karnataka'. "Mumbai-Karnataka region has been re-named as 'Kittur Karnataka'," state Law and Parliamentary Affairs minister JC Madhuswamy was quoted as saying by news agency ANI.
The renaming step comes a week after the chief minister Basavaraj Bommai reiterated that the state government would rename Mumbai-Karnataka region as ‘Kittur-Karnataka’, saying the former title holds no meaning since there were no ties between the two after the restructuring of states in 1956.
“We have recently renamed Hyderabad-Karnataka region as Kalyana Karnataka. We have now decided to rename Mumbai-Karnataka region as ‘Kittur Karnataka’ in the coming days,” the chief minister said, adding, “After the reorganisation, the border issue has been settled. Is there any meaning to Mumbai-Karnataka?”
The announcement was made during the Karnataka Rajyotsava, which is celebrated to commemorate the formation of Karnataka state 65 years ago. The Mumbai-Karnataka region, which was formerly under the Bombay presidency, became part of Karnataka in 1956.
History of Mumbai-Karnataka region:
While Karnataka celebrates Kannada Rajyotsava on November 1, the Maharashtra Ekikaran Samiti (MES), a group of native Marathi speakers, observe a black day as they claim to have been forcibly separated from their parent state 66 years ago during the reorganization exercise. The renaming has two benefits- one is to shrug off any ties to Mumbai and Maharashtra as well as naming the region after 19th century ruler, Kittur Rani Chennamma, the followers of whom are now the Panchamasalis, the largest subsect within the Lingayats.
In 2012, the state government inaugurated the Suvarana Vidhana Soudha, a replica of the Vidhana Soudha in Bengaluru, where it holds the winter session of the state legislature, to further thwart any claims of territory from the neighbouring state. However, the region still have native Marathi speaking residents, who continue to raise the inclusion of Belagavi and surrounding regions into Maharashtra and often clash with pro-Kannada organisations in the border district.
CM Bommai said the changes in the region should have happened in 1956 when the State Reorganisation Act came into effect. Stating that mere renaming is not sufficient until the standard of living of the people in that region improves and development takes place, the chief minister said the regional imbalance and disparities should also go and all the regions should grow together.
Going into the history of Kannada and Kannadigas, Bommai said there were Kannadiga rulers who ruled the neighbouring states such as Kadamba, Chalukya, and Vijayanagara empires.
