Click to play videoBangalore: The 12-hour-long bandh in Karnataka paralysed normal life in most areas across the state on Monday. With growing protests, the Cauvery issue looms large and regional wars get prominent by each passing day.
It’s not for the first time that Karnataka has witnessed high-pitched regional protests. It is also not the first state to go through crisis situation flared by regional conflicts. Most Indian states have a history of extremism when it comes to deciding conflicting matters between regions.
In 2006, Belgaum city in Karnataka came to a standstill over a border dispute with Maharashtra. In 2004, cinema halls in Bangalore faced violent protests after the state government banned for seven-weeks release of all non-Kannada films in the state.
In Maharashtra Shiv Sena Chief Bal Thackerey’s "Me, Mumbaikar" campaign stirred regional chauvinism to such an extent that it created a rift between Hindi-speaking and Marathi people of the state.
In Gujarat, Aamir Khan's Fanaa ran into controversy and faced violent protests because of the actor’s support to Narmada Bachao Campaign in the state. The film’s posters were burnt and cinema halls were attacked by extremists who shouted from rooftops slogans of Gujarati asmita (pride).
And who can forget Bengal's reaction to the expulsion of the cricketer Saurav Ganguly from the Indian cricket team. Saurav a Bengali himself had this huge fan following going on a rampage to support him. Enraged fans did everything—from blocking roads and railway tracks to burning effigies of team selector Kiran More and coach Greg Chappell—to show anger against expulsion of their ‘Bengali icon’.
If it would be correct to name the sentiment ‘regionalism,’ it has come in different forms and has been accompanied by varying degrees of violence. 'unity in diversity' remains now a mere phrase to be found in study books in schools.
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