Fast Fading

The Goan identity needs to be preserved at any cost

By Chandrakant Keni

Identity of a region is shaped by the history, geography, language and customs of that region. All of us are proud of Goa’s identity and we are keen to preserve it. Goans had to struggle for more than four decades to establish that Goa has a distinct identity, different from other parts of the country. The ultimate outcome was encouraging. Goa’s identity came to be recognised by the country. Yet it appears that there is no end to the woes of Konkani. While our talent, energy and time is engaged in reviving and re-whipping up old controversies Goans are fast losing ground on socio-cultural and economic fronts. Goans are being systematically elbowed out from all basic sectors of Goan economy. Goa is becoming a mini-India and if the process goes unabated, a day may dawn when the Konkani speakers will be reduced to a negligible minority in its one time homeland. God save Goa.

It was, probably, Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru who spoke about ‘Goan Identity’ long before Goa was liberated. He used this term frequently even after the liberation of Goa. He opposed the attitude of those who were demanding merger of Goa with Maharashtra. “The future of Goa should ultimately be decided by the people of Goa”, he said. However, he wanted the people of Goa to settle down in the new democratic environment. He made no secret of his views when he asserted that Goa had a distinct personality shaped by its history. It will be wrong to dilute this personality by merging Goa into any neighbouring state. Pandit Nehru also supported the cause of Konkani language, which he said is the people’s language, deserving all encouragement to develop on par with her sister language. That would strengthen the multifaceted cultural heritage, he felt.

The views of the protagonists of Konkani were no different. Konkani essentially aimed at promoting socio-cultural integration of the fragmented community with the help of language and literature. There it was their primary task to prove Konkani’s literary potentiality. They succeeded only after the Opinion Poll held in 1967 the outcome of which confirmed that Goa shall remain a distinct entity in the Union of India. Although Goa’s separate identity is not directly related to Konkani, it was helpful to chalk out a programme for the development of Konkani, as the pro-Marathi section of the Goan population continued to claim that Konkani was merely a dialect of Marathi. That led to the second phase of the agitation by protagonists of Konkani.

The rulers of those days, however, continued their hostility towards Konkani despite the fact that the language had made many significant strides. The controversy whether it was an independent language or merely a dialect of Marathi continued  even after the political future was decided and Konkani continued to be denied the State patronage.

We fought the second struggle, after the Opinion Poll, on a firmer ground. It was for the recognition by the Sahitya Akademi to Konkani as an independent literary language of India. That recognition came in 1975 and it set at rest the linguistic controversy reviving the hopes  that Konkani would now receive recognition and active support of the state and the Central Governments. But these hopes were belied and a new  struggle had to be launched to give Konkani a status of Official Language in its homeland, Goa. In fact, the adoption of Konkani as the Official Language paved the way for Goa’s Statehood. Goa became the 25^th State of the Union. Our case to knock at the door of the Central Government for Konkani’s inclusion  in the 8^th schedule was further strengthened.

The Centre’s assurance offering  all help and encouragement to Konkani proved to be hollow and Konkani continued to receive step-motherly treatment in every sphere, reducing its speakers to second class citizens and becoming a major impediment  for our fullest emotional integration with the motherland. Liberation of Goa had brought about physical and political integration, but the soul somehow has been left out of the Constitution.

As a matter of fact, inclusion of any language in the 8^th schedule was relevant if one goes by the letter of the Constitution. The Schedule of language in the constitution is prepared in the context of the article 344 (1) and 351. These  articles speak of constitution of a commission representing language in the schedule for promoting progressive use of Hindi as official language of the Union. But in actual practice the languages in the 8^th schedule alone received all government patronage. We were bold enough to demand the scrapping of the eighth schedule itself which had become irrelevant and an instrument of discrimination, if Konkani could not  be included in it.

With the inclusion of Konkani in the eighth schedule it was expected that it would open new avenues for its all-round development. It  also completed the process of emotional integration of over 5 million Konkani speaking citizen of this country.

Inclusion in the 8^th schedule of the Constitution and giving it the status of the official language, amounted to restoration of Konkani’s glory.

While these agitations were in progress a dangerous trend was set in motion by the people in power to dilute Goa’s identity. Successive Governments took no initiative to implement the Official Language Act and encouraged the English language in every possible way. To add to Konkani’s misery, a group of Goans calling themselves the saviours of Marathi are making efforts to give equal status to Marathi alongwith the Official Language Konkani. As a matter of fact, they have no locus standi as their claim that Konkani was merely a dialect of Marathi has been rejected by the people of India, after the Parliament included Konkani in the 8^th schedule.

Konkani has no quarrel with Marathi. Lovers of Marathi language and literature are free to use the language and literature as a cultural medium. But in no case Marathi can expect to get the status of second official language of Goa.

No language can be a second official language on the grounds that it has richer literary tradition than the language of that state. Language is our identity and there can be no compromise on that count.

Will Maharashtra agree to give status to Konkani on par with Marathi_ Why then Goa alone should accommodate the language of a neighbouring State_

Official language is necessarily language of the soil. It is essentially a vehicle of culture. Goa will not remain Goa if the supremacy of Konkani ceases.