Goa was liberated on December 19, 1961. Over 450 years of Portuguese domination
came to an end, Goa became free and a part and parcel of its motherland—Bharat.
Democracy was ushered in. Goans, all of a sudden, found themselves in a
completely different situation. They started breathing free air in a democratic
atmosphere.
Soon after Liberation Goan society was vertically divided due to two major
issues: (a) Goa's merger into Maharashtra or Goa's preservation as a separate
state and (b) the language issue—Konkani or Marathi as Goa's Official language.
The ultimate aim of those who supported the Marathi language as Goa's official
language was to merge Goa into Maharashtra. Those who advocated the cause of
Konkani as Goa's official language, dreamt of preserving Goa as a separate
state in the Indian Union.
Thus Goans, who had always lived in harmony, without any discrimination of
caste, creed and religion, were now pitted against each other to fight a battle
and decide whether to preserve Goa and its unique identity by achieving
full-fledged statehood or destroy Goa and its unique identity by merging it
into Maharashtra.
The first battle among Goans was fought in January 1967 when the only opinion
poll in the country was held in Goa by the Indian government. The opinion poll
was to decide whether Goa will be merged into Maharashtra or continue as a
union territory. Goans overwhelmingly decided against the merger of Goa into
Maharashtra and Goa continued as a union territory.
However, to achieve statehood for Goa the official language issue had to be
solved first. Another conflict began among Goans to attain official language
status to Konkani or Marathi.
The language agitation was the largest ever agitation witnessed in the history
of Goa. This battle was not fought completely on democratic principles. It was
left to the political will of the then ruling Indian National Congress party.
This took place in 1987 after almost 20 years of the opinion poll.
By then much water had flown down the Mandovi river. Goa's many political
leaders who fought tooth and nail for Marathi and to merge Goa into Maharashtra
were now controlling the affairs of the Congress party. It is because of these
people that the language agitation turned bitter, bloody and complicated.
Although the Congress stood for Konkani, some Congressmen, then an effective
lobby able to influence any decision in the Congress, succeeded in
granting Marathi language almost the same status.
The only difference being Konkani was placed at the first level and Marathi at
the second level in Goa's Official Language Act. Whatever may be the
interpretation of the Act, Konkani became the official language of Goa in
February 1987 and immediately thereafter, Goa was declared a separate state on
30th May, 1987.
If we analyze this brief background, the struggle to make Goa a separate state
was mainly to preserve Goa and its identity. Development of the state could
have taken place even if it was merged into Maharashtra. If the final aim in
achieving statehood for Goa was to preserve and promote Goan identity, has that
goal been realized?
About 23 years have passed since Goa attained statehood. During these 23 years,
what has been the progress record in the preservation of Goa's unique identity
for which the elders sacrificed? Are there any specific efforts made by the
government to protect Goa's identity?
After attaining statehood Goa's political environment was completely polluted
due to the misdeeds of some of Goa's politicians. Politicians in Goa became
power-hungry, greedy and selfish. They mastered the art of toppling governments
and projected Goa as a politically notorious state in the country. They
concentrated on developmental projects as such projects helped in their
personal development too. In the bargain, they completely forgot the most
important aim of all the battles that Goans fought—preservation and promotion
of Goan identity.
Konkani language, which is the foundation of Goan identity, has not made any
progress in any field in Goa.
Educationally it is restricted to very few primary schools compared to Marathi
primary schools.
The number of English as well as Kannada primary schools is on the rise. In
secondary schools and in all other higher educational institutions it is
English, which controls the educational scenario. Konkani is being replaced
even in households by English because parents feel that the future of their
children depends on the knowledge of English alone. The scene at the markets is
more disturbing. Non-Goans control the sale of vegetables, fish, etc.
Instead of doing business by speaking the Konkani language they speak in Hindi
and Goans carry on their marketing with the help of Hindi. Konkani language—the
most important factor of Goan identity—is slowly and systematically being
displaced from the Goan soil.
Look at the rapid increase in the Goan population. The percentage of non-Goans
in Goa is almost 40%. If the same influx trend continues, in another decade,
Goans will be a minority in their own state.
There has been a serious setback to the promotion of Goan culture.
The 40% non-Goans settled in Goa promote not Goan culture, but their own
culture among their children. The children from the original Goan families ape
western culture. If this is the reality, in what way is Goan identity protected
and promoted for posterity? The most important goal of achieving statehood for
Goa was the preservation and promotion of Goan culture and in doing so to
strengthen Goan identity. Unfortunately this has not taken place because the
political will in Goa has completely failed to extract the benefits of
statehood for Goa and its identity.
_________________________________________________________________
Hotmail: Trusted email with Microsoft’s powerful SPAM protection.
https://signup.live.com/signup.aspx?id=60969
