Marathicized
Konknni versus Konknni
Pratapananda Naik, S.J.
20
April 2011
Finally after a
lot of discussion and reflection the Congress Government decided to extend
grants to English medium primary schools. While taking this decision the
government has put a condition to teach Konknni or Marathi as a compulsory
language from standard I to X. This is the historic as well as the right
decision to promote Konknni and Marathi in Goa.
Pseudo Marathi protagonists when they were in power under MGP government did hardly
anything to promote Marathi. Konknni protagonists of Devanagari group too did
nothing to promote Konknni in schools. Now
both these groups who could not see eye to eye with each other have come under
the common umbrella of Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) and shedding
crocodile tears saying that the Congress government’s decision would destroy
Konknni and Marathi languages, local culture and Goan identity! These pseudo protectors of local culture who
opposed grants to English medium schools will be the first one to send their
grandchildren to prestigious English medium schools run by the minority
community. To avail government grants they may even open new English medium
primary schools.
Till 1975 these
pseudo Marathi protagonists proclaimed vociferously saying that Konknni is a
mere dialect of Marathi. They fought tooth and nail to oppose while Konknni is
to be recognized as an independent literary language in 1975 by the Sahitya
Akademi, New Delhi. They also opposed Konknni to become the sole
State Language of Goa. But they managed to manipulate to safeguard the interest
of Marathi in the Goa, Daman and Diu Official Language
Act 1987.
Devanagari
protagonists of Konknni were equally cunning and shrewd. They convinced the
minority community to introduce Bamunn Konknni in Devanagari script as a
subject in minority schools after the liberation and even helped three minority
schools in Margao to start Konknni medium primary schools in middle 1960s. When most of the minority schools switched
over to Konknni medium in 1990-1991, these Konknni protagonists did nothing to
promote either Konknni as a medium or even as a subject in their own schools.
But closed their eyes when government promoted mainly Marathi in government
schools and the majority community promoted Marathi and English medium primary
schools! Their hidden agenda was to
annihilate the minority institutions by forcing them to run Konknni medium
schools. They always used Marathi as
their trump card and sowed the seed of fear and animosity against Marathi in
the minds of the minority.
During the
language agitation in 1986, they succeeded to convince the minority leaders in
KPA not to demand a place for Konknni in Roman script in the Language Bill by
saying that if you demand Roman script, Marathi will become the official
language of Goa and eventually there is a possibility of the merger of Goa with
Maharashtra! They bluffed the minority
community by keeping silent when Marathi was given more than a lion’s share in
the Language Act. If they were honest
they should have opposed the Language Act and should have fought to make
Konknni as the sole Official Language of Goa. Instead of this they tried to
pacify the minority leaders. Why they did not fight only for Konknni? The
answer is crystal clear. They knew very well that the majority community though
speaks Konknni but will not accept written Konknni of Bamunn dialect in
Devanagari script. Besides, the majority community will continue to use Marathi
for religious, social, cultural and all other domains of their lives. Even
today the majority community prefers to print invitation and greeting cards in
Marathi. One single Konknni daily survives solely because of the financial
support of a business house from Vasco. While 10 Marathi dailies are sold in Goa. Bamunn Konknni in Devanagari script has been totally
rejected by the majority community. It is promoted mainly due to the government
grants to Goa Konknni Akademi. It is a Marathicized Konknni and the textbooks
are filled with any number of grammatical errors, spelling mistakes and lacking
in originality and creativity. It is better to learn Marathi instead of
Marathicized Bamunn Konknni in Nagari script. Hence why it should be preserved
and promoted by the minority community in their schools? English medium aided
schools have the two best choices, namely to teach either Marathi or Konknni. Let
FORCE and others who fought forcefully for the English medium should continue
their struggle to get the rightful place for Konknni in Roman script in school
curriculum. The minority institutions have the right in the Indian Constitution
to promote their language and script. Hence under the minority rights they
could demand to teach Konknni in Roman script from standard I to XII. This is
the only way to preserve and promote their Konknni. Otherwise students will
continue to learn Konknni in Devanagari script which is a dead and unwanted
language.
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