By Rajan Narayan

BEFORE 1987, Goa was united by the love for Konkani. Since 1987, when Konkani in the Devanagari script was made the official language, Goa has been divided by script problems. A section of the Hindu population is fanatical about Konkani in the Devanagari script. The Catholics are equally passionate about Konkani in the Romi script. Even almost four decades after Devanagari Konkani was made the official language, the Romi Konkani fans are still bitter. They believe that the Devanagari Konkani fanatics took them for a ride.
I happened to mention on Facebook that the Konkani stalwarts have not enquired about health. They have not wished me on my 77th birthday. This opened up a Pandora’s box. There are Romi Konkani mogi who have been accusing me of supporting the Devanagiri Konkani group. They have been accusing me of a conspiracy against the minority Catholic population. They believe that as editor of OHeraldo, I should have rejected the imposition of Devanagiri Konkani as the official language of the state.
Perhaps they are right as both the Catholics and a section of the Hindus fought to retain Goa’s identity during the Opinion Poll in 1967. Both communities fought for Konkani to be recognized as the official language of the state of Goa. The bitter truth is that the majority of the Hindu population of Goa has always preferred Marathi to Konkani. Even now a large proportion of the Hindu population thinks, speaks and writes in Marathi.

HISTORICAL FACT
THIS is primarily due to the historical fact that Konkani was suppressed during the Portuguese colonial regime. The Hindu majority population adopted Marathi for their religious and cultural requirements. All the religious rituals of birth, marriage and death were conducted in prayers in Marathi.
There were hardly any Konkani schools before Liberation. There were a few Marathi schools. Post-liberation with the pro-merger, the Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) forming the first government after liberation, Marathi got a major boost. Goa’s first chief minister, Dayanand Bandodakar, had at least a thousand primary schools opened in the Marathi medium, that is after the MGP formed the government. This promoted the spread of Marathi at the cost of Devanagari Konkani. It is the Catholics who preserved Konkani in the Romi script through the 18 years of Marathiwadi dominance of Goa.
Even after the Congress defeated the MGP and formed the government the Marathi lobby continued to be very strong. The first Congress chief minister, Pratapsingh Raoji Rane, was a fanatic Marathiwadi. After all Pratapsingh Raoji Rane was the revenue minister in the MGP Sashikala Kakodkar government. Even after he joined the Congress, Pratapsingh Rane continued to promote Marathi at the expense of Konkani.
When the battle for Konkani started, Rane cracked down on the agitation. There was police firing on the Goans who were demanding that Konkani should be made Goa’s official language. Some protestors were even killed by police bullets. The Devanagari Konkani mogi had the support of the Congress government at the centre. Congress leaders like Purshotam Kakodkar strongly supported the demand for Konkani to be made the official language.
But Pratapsingh Raoji Rane was adamant. Rane agreed to consider a bill to declare Konkani as the official language only under pressure from the then Congress prime minister, Rajiv Gandhi. However, the local Congress leaders did not trust Pratapsingh Raoji Rane. So Rajiv Gandhi deputed a senior high command observer, namely RL Bhatia, to supervise the session of the legislative assembly to ensure that Rane would not sabotage the bill to make Konkani the official language.

RANE’S INSISTANCE
IT was Rane who insisted that only Konkani in the Devanagari script should be made the official language. Rane was communal and totally opposed the demand to confer equal official language status to Romi Konkani. He had a bill drafted which would confer equal official language status to Marathi along with Konkani. It is widely believed that the official language bill which was passed was jointly drafted by Pratapsingh Raoji Rane and Ramakant Khalap who was the leader of the MGP.
This was dramatized by the wording of the official language bill. The bill that was passed declared that while Konkani would be the official language Marathi shall be used for any official purpose. Romi Konkani of course was not given any status in the official language bill. This led Churchill Alemao to storm the office of the OHeraldo and demand that we should say that Konkani mai had been betrayed.
Churchill did not understand that given how powerful the Marathi lobby was there was no option. It was either accepting Konkani in the Devanagari script as an official language or sacrificing Konkani. I believe it is unfair of Romi Konkani supporters to accuse Rajan Narayan of being part of the conspiracy by Saraswat Brahmans to impose Devanagari Konkani on Catholics. I was not running the government. I have no influence on the Congress party government led by Pratapsingh Raoji Rane. I was in no position to stop Rane and company from declaring Konkani in the Devanagari script as the official language.
KONKANI-HATERS
I HAVE to admit that Konkani was systematically destroyed by the Rane government in the Marathi lobby. In practice even after nearly four decades of the official language bill, Konkani remains in the aangan (courtyard). Like Radha who was in love with lord Krishna. Krishna did not marry Radha, his girlfriend. Krishna in Hindu religious mythology was married to Rukmani, and Radha just remained in the courtyard when Rukmani became the lady of the house.
Similarly, even after Konkani was declared as the official language in the Devanagari script, Konkani in the Romi script remained outside the house. It was Marathi maushi and not Konkani mai who was the lady of the house. Even as of 2014 Konkani is not the official language of the government of Goa. Konkani is not the language of the courts. Konkani is not the language of the legislative assembly of Goa. The bhatkar of Goa both Hindu and Catholic still speak Marathi and Portuguese at home. They consider Konkani the language of the servants.
The bigger beneficiary of Konkani in the Devanagari script being made the official language are a small section of writers and intellectuals. The Devanagari Konkani writers have monopolized all the Sahitya Kala Academy awards ever since Goa became a state and Konkani was included among the official languages. Authors of Romi Konkani have to submit a translation in Devanagiri Konkani to be eligible for Sahitya Kala Academy awards.
Ironically, both Marathi and Konkani medium schools are closing down in Goa. Even the staunchest Marathiwadi and Konkaniwadi want to send their children to English-medium primary school. There is a mistaken belief that it is the Devanagiri Konkani lobby which stopped grants to the Diocesan English medium primary schools. Historically, in Goa grants were extended to schools in English medium in addition to Konkani and Marathi medium after Liberation.

SASHIKALA KAKODKAR
IT was Sashikala Kakodkar, who was the education minister in the Progressive Democratic Front government, who cancelled grants to English-medium schools. Sashikala declared that only schools in the vernacular medium would be eligible for grants. The result was that schools not only in Marathi and Konkani but in Urdu, Kannada and even Malayalam got grants. But not schools in the English medium. The Diocesan schools were forced to switch to the Konkani medium because they could not charge high fees without grants from the government.
However, the Diocesan schools discovered that they were not equipped to teach in the Devanagiri medium. The students were switching to expensive English medium schools. On the eve of the 2007 elections, the church forced Digambar Kamat to accept and extend grants to English-medium Diocesan schools.
BJP Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar made this official and restored grants only to the English-medium primary schools run by Catholic organizations. Even now primary schools run by Hindu managements in English do not get grants from the government. Parrikar restored grants to English-medium church schools, not out of any love for English. Parrikar gave Catholic schools grants because he needed the Catholic votes to stay in power.
I would blame Catholic leaders like Churchill Alemao, Dr Wilfred D’souza and Luizinho Falerio for the betrayal of Romi Konkani. The three Romi Konkani champions could have protested against Konkani in the Devanagari script being made the official language. When Churchill became the chief minister after topping the Rane government, he could have amended the official language bill to give Romi Konkani equal status. Dr Wilfred D’souza could have given Romi Konkani equal status when he became chief minister. Even Luizinho Falerio did not make any attempt to give justice to Romi Konkani.

KODEL-OBSESSED
ALL three Romi Konkani champions were too obsessed with their kodel to risk antagonizing the Marathi lobby. No political leader in Goa can survive if he antagonizes the Marathi lobby. Conversely, no political leader can remain chief minister without the support of the Catholics. The two communities are dependent of each other. It was Parrikar who realized that the BJP could not acquire power or remain in power without the Catholic MLAs.
In the recent parliamentary election, it was again dramatiszd that Catholics are still the powerful group in Goa. The south Goa parliamentary seat has been retained by the Congress candidate Captain Viriato Fernandes, who defeated BJP’s industrialist candidate Pallavi Dempo. Even now it is not too late to bury the bitterness by recognizing the status of Romi Konkani. Both Devanagiri and Romi Konkani should get equal status. A good mother should not discriminate between her children. I am sure Konkani mai makes no distinction between her children, regardless of whether they write in Devanagari, Romi, Kannada or Malayalam.