The Marathi-Kannada row has taken ominous turn when Belgaum district administration demolished a board at Yallur village in the district, which proclaimed the village to be in Maharashtra. In retaliation, the Karnataka State Road Transport Corporation buses were stoned in Kolhapur, which was followed by attacks on Marathi speaking people in certain areas of western Karnataka bordering Maharashtra.

Terming the "attack" on Marathi-speaking people in Karnataka by the police as "Kannada terrorism", the Shiv Sena asked the Narendra Modi government to intervene and resolve the issue before it triggers bloodshed. 

"In Mumbai, the Karnataka Bhawan and Karnataka Sangh buildings stand tall. However, a 'Maharashtra state' board in Karnataka is not tolerated and prompts such brutal assault which even puts Hafiz Saeed to shame," an editorial in Sena mouthpiece 'Saamana' said. 

"All political parties under the sun criticized the Maharashtra Sadan force-feeding issue. Will they display the same eagerness in condemning this injustice on Marathi speaking people of Karnataka," the editorial asked. 

Fervently appealing the union government to intervene, it further continued, "In Modi, we have a strong Prime Minister and in Rajnath Singh, we have got a strong Home Minister. The Marathi speaking populace in the border area has great expectation from them. If Karnataka Police is indulging in terror against Marathi-speaking people, it is the responsibility of the Central government to curb this terrorism. We are making this appeal to the Central government because those ruling Maharashtra are incompetent." 

The Sena reaction followed Chief Minister Prithviraj Chavan's telephonic talk with his Karnataka counterpart Siddaramaiah yesterday. 

Chavan said he had conveyed the strong sentiments of people of Maharashtra on the brutal assault of Marathi speaking people there.