By NisserDias.
28th Feb 2013.
28th Feb 2013.
With the BJP in power for almost a year now Marathi protagonists have started asserting themselves and this was very much evident last week when a group of Marathiwadis demanded that Marathi be made the official language of the state. This might just be a call but the seed to destroy Konkani language gradually has been sown.
Maharashtrawadi Gomant party’s (MGP) primary ideology was to merge Goa with Maharashtra no matter how. Even after losing the historical Opinion Poll their desire still continues and the moment they get an opportunity they push their agenda. BJP too also harbours similar aspiration because most of the MGP protagonists have now become BJP workers. This is what chief minister Manohar Parrikar was saying just prior to the general assembly election last year that both the parties are natural allies because they have similar manifestos and plans for the state of Goa but the ultimate goal is to merge Goa with Maharashtra.
Way back in 1967 MGP did not use tact but wanted to bulldoze against the wishes of the people and merge Goa into its larger neighbour. Now it seems they are using dexterity and devious ways to achieve their goal. Their recent demand from the government is to give official status to Marathi language in Goa besides Konkani. They are not happy with equal status but want official status, this to my mind is totally unreasonable and illogical, how a Konkan region accept Marathi as official language? In the future Maharashtra inclined Goans or rather Maharashtra deity Sashikala Kakodkar and others may demand that since Konkani does not have much literary works as Marathi it should be sole official language and our mother tongue should be given the kitchen status. These riff-raffs should understand that the issue has to be decided by the people of the state and not by handful of political supported vagabonds, who are at the moment are sounding the bugle of the government.
I wish to remind my readers that Manohar Parrikar as the Opposition Leader had stated in the assembly that he loves to speak Konkani but we should not forget he was educated with Marathi as his first language so also he educated his sons through Marathi medium in the primary level and not Konkani. Thus our chief minister thinks and calculates in Marathi but propagates his love for Konkani in public. It is always said that people get the government they deserve. And in the case of Goans it is very much right as we have made a virtue of electing all the wrong people.
A year back we did not want Congress led government of which MGP was an ally because of full scale corruption so we elected BJP to power without realising that BJP also harbours MGP ideology and more. During the lean years of the MGP after the Opinion Poll, most of their members joined the BJP. Hence when Parrikar said that his party and MGP were natural allies he was not far from the mark as both these political parties seems to yearn for the merger of Goa into Maharashtra.
Similarly airport at Mopa will benefit Maharashtra more than Goa, it might spell the death knell for tourism in the state but chief minister Manohar Parrikar is hell-bent on the airport at Mopa and has even put the process in fast forward mode.
Then the Maharashtra strong man and Union Agriculture minister Sharad Pawar flies down to Goa under the guise of attending party affairs and promises to the take up the mining issue in the state with the prime minister and in few he facilities the meeting between representatives of mining affected people and Dr. Manmohan Singh. Mining issue is in no way related to agriculture, it pertains to environment, forest hence he has no business to poke his nose. It seems that either our state government is impotent or chief minister feels that he does not need Prime minister’s assistance to solve the problem. Thus those people affected by stoppage of mining activity in the state will be grateful to the Maharashtrian irrespective of the outcome of the case in the Supreme Court.
Coming back to the demand of elevating Marathi language as the official language of Goa, some of the Konkani protagonists are also to be blamed for this. While some want ‘Devanagari’ others want ‘Romi’ script. Marathi lovers have seen the ever growing divide between Konkani lovers and are now seeking to exploit it. While most of the individuals backing ‘Devanagari’ script have done their elementary schooling in Marathi, most of the individuals supporting ‘Romi’ script have completed their schooling with English as medium of instruction and hence find it difficult to read and write in Devanagari script.
At the same time while majority of Hindu brethren prefer Marathi because Bhagavad Gita is in that language. The Holy Bible is written in Romi script of Konkani but nobody seems to find the parallel between both these aspects. While Marathi is given preference and also equal status, Romi Konkani is not even receiving equal funds as the Devanagari script. This is our nemesis.
We as Goans have to think about these issues and for once and all put an end to it. And the first thing to do to achieve this goal is wipe out Maharashtrawadi Gomant Party (MGP) from Goa. They should not be representing Goans in the Assembly but representing Marathi Manos in Mumbai. Finally if the government tries to concede to the demand of making Marathi as the official language there is all probability of discontentment and bloodshed.
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