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Let both Marathi and Konkani prosper, says Khalap
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by Ramnath Pai Raikar
One of the prominent leaders of the Marathi language movement
and chairman of the reception committee of the just-concluded
8th Konkan Marathi Sahitya Sammelan, Mr Ramakant Khalap
told The Navhind Times that the literary conference of such
dimension was held in Goa after a long time and that it was highly
successful in giving the much needed boost and impetus to the movement.
"We need to maintain the tempo of this movement in the future and
see that the objective of achieving the status of an official state language
for Marathi is fufilled at the earliest," he said.
Talking about the action plan, Mr Khalap said organisations and individuals
committed to propagation and development of Marathi would be meeting
very soon. They would chalk out a road map for implementation of the
conclusions arrived at the Sammelan. Activities in this direction could
include
enhanced educational programmes, strengthening of primary education system,
promoting literary activities among the people of Goa.
The text of the Official State Language Act is in an ambiguous form,
Mr. Khalap said. "It is for the state legislative assembly to amend the
existing Act
and make Marathi the joint official state language along with Konkani," he
said.
He hoped that some day enlightened Goans would endorse the amendment through
their representatives.
"The law would also provide for education at primary level in either of the
two
languages compulsorily, thereby preserving and conserving the real asmita or
asmitai of the state," Mr Khalap said.
"The real identity of the state is composite, homogenous, characteristic of
the
Goan people. In the absence of this characteristic the increasingly
cosmopolitan
demography of Goa will drown not just Marathi but also Konkani, and thereby
everything else for which Goans stand, fight and dream about," he observed.
Almost all the speakers at the recent literary conference had stressed on
the need
for supporting both the languages in Goa. "In fact, the president of the
Sammelan
dwelled upon how the spoken languages over a period of time had become
literary languages and therefore Konkani's emergence, first as a literary
language
and subsequently as an official language was in the normal course of
events," he said.
"As an effort to find an amicable solution to the language issue, I, as the
deputy
chief minister of the Progressive Democratic Front had proposed the use of
Konkani and Marathi as the media of education at primary level with
government-aided support. Mr Churchill Alemao, one of the leaders of the
Konkani movement, had also supported this move.
However, certain sections started an agitation in favour of English, which was
as violent as the agitation of the Konkani-Marathi language movement, in
1986,"
Mr Khalap stated.
"The development of Konkani language does not depend upon the status given
to it by any law, but on its use by people at all levels," Mr Khalap
concluded,
adding that if Konkani had suffered today, it is because of 'Konkaniwadis'
who kicked away the golden opportunity to propagate Konkani language through
Konkani education at all levels.
This has resulted in majority of the students dropping out of schools,
without proper
knowledge of Konkani, Marathi or even English language and ending up as
peons, cooks, waiters and butlers, or turning into vagabonds and castaways,
open to all vices, he noted.
Mr Khalap also lamented that the Konkani language as it stands in Devnagari
script
today, has no use for the Catholic population of Goa. "In 1987, when the
Official
State Language Bill was being considered, I had proposed through an amendment
that Roman script should also be permitted for Konkani, for initial period
of 10 years.
Had this been done, the Sahitya Akademi awards would have been won by
authors writing in Roman Konkani, instead of a small minority writers
contributing
in Devnagari script," he bemoaned.
"Our purpose in giving the status of a state language to Marathi is to
preserve the
vibrant and culturally rich local heritage linked to this language," Mr
Khalap added.
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The Navhind Times 5/02/03 page 1
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