As violence spread in the southern Indian state of Karnataka over a dispute on sharing water from the Cauvery river with its neighbouring state Tamil Nadu, popular Tamil radio presenter RJ Balaji took to social media to remind people that they were ‘all human first’.

The dispute has lasted for more than a 150 years during which both states involved have accused each other of reneging on several agreements.

While Karnataka contends that it does not receive its due share of water from the river, Tamil Nadu says that it has come to depend very heavily on the existing pattern of usage of its water and any change in this pattern will adversely affect the livelihood of millions of its farmers.

In the latest development, the country’s Supreme Court has ordered Karnataka to release 12,000 Cusecs of water from the river to neighbouring Tamil Nadu till September 20.

This has resulted in widespread disorder in Karnataka which has seen instances of travel and transport services being blocked, buses being burnt and anti-tamil violence leading to the imposition of a curfew in Bangalore – the state’s capital.

Balaji hosts a show called ‘Take it Easy’ on 92.7 Big FM at its station in Chennai – the capital of Tamil Nadu.

On Sunday, he posted a message to his Facebook page asking the people of both states to “remain sensible and refrain from posting things that spread hatred and violence”.

As the post went viral over Sunday and Monday, Balaji posted shared a video on his timeline on Tuesday captioned: “More than being a Tamilzhan or Kannadiga, let’s be human first!”