Tensions Escalate Between Maharashtra and Karnataka Over Border and Language Disputes

Attacks on bus staff and retaliatory protests have disrupted transport services and reignited a long-standing border disagreement.

A Karnataka bus conductor in Belagavi was attacked after allegedly refusing to respond in Marathi, leading to arrests and a counter-complaint under the POCSO Act.
Retaliatory violence occurred in Chitradurga, Karnataka, where a Maharashtra bus driver was assaulted and his face blackened by activists.
Both Maharashtra and Karnataka have suspended or reduced bus services between the states, citing safety concerns for passengers and staff.
Protests by Shiv Sena (UBT) workers in Pune targeted Karnataka-registered buses, with vandalism reported and several protesters detained.
The incidents have reignited the decades-old border dispute centered on Belagavi, a region with a significant Marathi-speaking population, claimed by Maharashtra but governed by Karnataka.