Marathi
Rajbhasha Andolan (MRA) and Romi Konknni Andolon (RKA)
Press Release
22 October
2013
Background:
The
Portuguese were invited in 1509 to conquer Tiswadi from Adil Shah of Bijapur by
two Bamonns of Goa, namely, Timoja Nayak and Mhal Pai Vernekar! They wanted to
overthrow Adil Shah and gradually establish their own Bamonn rule. Thus these
two Bamonns and their colleagues were responsible to bring the Portuguese to
Tiswadi and later to modern day Goa. During the Portuguese rule from 1510 to
1961, Bamonns of Goa learnt the Portuguese language and benefited from the
Portuguese rule for education, jobs and other areas of life. With the arrival
of the Portuguese Roman script and the printing press came to Goa. Up to
1987, Romi Konknni and Marathi were the two Indian languages which were popular
in Goa as written languages and used for all spheres of life such as religious,
spiritual, cultural, literature, educational, etc. Marathi was used as a
written language in Goa at least from the early 13th century.
The first Marathi inscription written in 1236 is found on a copper plate at
Kasarpal of Bicholim Taluka.
Portuguese
missionaries were the first one to start the written tradition to Konknni in
1556. They used the Roman script to write and print Konknni. Since then Romi
Konknni developed as a written language. Till then Konknni was only a spoken
language and it had no written tradition. But a few Bamonns of Devanagari
Konknni proponents have created a myth saying that the first inscription of
Devanagari Konknni is found in an inscription of 12th century at the
foot of Bahubali’s statue at Shravanabelagola, Karnataka! All the known
scholars and linguists have said that the inscription is in Marathi. In
Tanjavore temple in Tamil Nadu there are plenty of Marathi inscriptions in
Devanagari script. Due to various Maharashtrian kings, Marathi language had
reached in certain parts of Karnataka, Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh.
In 17th
century whatever literature which Portuguese destroyed was either Marathi or
Sanskrit and not definitely Konknni. How could they destroy Konknni literature
which never existed? The myth that the Portuguese destroyed Konknni literature
written in Modi, Halekannada script and Devanagari script was created by a
section of Bamonn Community of Goa to hide their inferiority complex. They have
created enough myths to prove that their community and the actual production
and imaginary production of their community are superior, pure, holy, and
standard.
In 1987 a
Konknni dialect (Devanagari Konknni) of approximately 2% of Goans, namely
Bamonn community was declared as the Official Language of Goa through their
manipulative methods! Devanagari Konknni was created in 20th century
by Vaman Varde Valavlikar, popularly known as Shanai Gõybab who lived and died
in Mumbai. A few leaders of this 2% Bamonn community used this Devanagari
Konknni to get recognition from Sahitya Akademi, New Delhi as an independent
literary language in 1975 with the active support of Romi Konknni. In 1981 they
convinced the Sahitya Akademi to accept the Devanagari script as the only
official script of Konknni. They did this to have their sole control in the
literary, educational, cultural, social and later on in the administrative
fields. The Bamonn Community promoted the Devanagari Konknni to have an upper
hand over the Catholic Community and Hindu Bahujan Samaj which identified with
Marathi. Though the Bamonn Community widely uses Marathi still they promoted
Devanagari Konknni and not Marathi because the Marathi used by them and the
Bahujan Samaj is identical and it is influenced by the standard Marathi. The
Bamonn Community knew very well that Marathi will not give them the greater
advantage over the Bahujan Samaj. To suppress, oppress and subdue the Bahujan
Samaj and the Catholic Community, the Devanagari Konknni was created and
vociferously promoted. It was a Machiavellian or Chanakya’s conspiracy hatched
by a section of the Bamonn Community to impose their dialect under the garb of
the Devanagari script as the standard language over the rest of the Goans!
This
minority Bamonn community very well knew that the Catholic Community and the
Bahujan Samaj will not unite to fight against their hidden agenda. A section of
the Bamonn Community put fear in the mind of the Catholic Community by saying
that if they demand Romi Konknni, then Konknni will not become the Official
Language of Goa, instead Marathi the language of Maharashtra will become the
Official Language and Goa might be eventually merged with Maharashtra and thus
Goa will loose its own identity! The Bamonn leaders brain washed the Catholic
Community leaders who were members of the Konknni Porjecho Avaz (KPA) to accept
the Devanagari Konknni as the Official Language of Goa. The leaders of the
Catholic Community reluctantly accepted this proposal to prevent Marathi to
occupy the status of the Official Language. KPA was funded and supported to a
large extent by the Romi Konknni supporters. The vast majority of Romi Konknni
users were under the impression that their Konknni will become the Official
Language. When the Language Bill was passed on 4 February 1987, the Catholic Community
realized that they were cheated and betrayed. Paul did the hard labour and
Pandurang reaped the fruit! The vast majority of the Hindu Community,
especially the Bahujan Samaj which was using Marathi for educational, social,
cultural, religious and in other domains of lives too felt that their language
and their community was reduced to the status of second class in their own
State of Goa.
Till date
the Devanagari Konknni has not been fully accepted by the all members of Bamonn
Community members for written purpose! They either use Marathi or English for
written communication! Both the Catholic Community and the Hindu Bahujan
Samaj have not accepted the Devanagari Konknni which is labelled by a few as
Bamonni Konknni. The Devanagari Konknni survives on State and Central
Governments’ grants, projects, schemes and advertisements. On the other hand
the Romi Konknni and Marathi have the popular support of the people. They have
survived and will survive without State and Central Governments’ support. Marathi
Plays, sale of dailies, periodicals, books, DVDs, number of Marathi schools
prove the fact that though the Bahujan Samaj speaks a dialect of Konknni, they
do not accept it as an independent language, rather they consider it as an oral
language and a dialect of Marathi. Till 1987, for the Bahujan Samaj, Konknni
meant Romi Konknni. In Romi Konknni Tiatrs, weeklies and periodicals, DVDs are
very popular. Devanagari Konknni is a parasite, which lives with the
support of a few members of Catholic and Bahujan Samaj communities.
The
Devanagari Konknni though lacks popularity and support of the people, it has
been forced on Goans as the Official Language! It has created division,
intellectual vacuum and harm in every area of life of the Goans. Due to Devanagari
Konknni, the social unity of Goa is shattered and stunted. Even after 27 years
of the Official Language status, Devanagari Konknni has not yet become popular
and it has been rejected at all levels by the majority of the Goan Community.
The proponents of Devanagari Konknni promote the fascist principle, “One
language, one script, one community”. This principle is against the
Constitution of India which promotes “Unity in diversity”.
To undo the
great harm caused by the Devanagari Konknni and its proponents to the Goan
Society and to foster social unity in Goa, Marathi Rajbhasha Andolan (MRA) and
Romi Konknni Andolon (RKA) have come together on a common platform to jointly
demand for the change in the Official Language Act 1987. The time has come for
the Bhaujan Samaj and the Catholic Community to come together to build a
stronger, peaceful and united Goa. Up to now the proponents of Marathi and Romi
Konknni were independently demanding to change the Official Language Act to
obtain the official status for Marathi and Romi Konknni. In the past
politicians promised them but did not fulfil their promises. Even the present
Chief Minister before coming to power had promised both the groups that if his
party (BJP) comes to power, he will do justice to both Marathi and Romi
Konknni. Now he has conveniently forgotten his own promise. Hence
now the time has come for MRA and RKA to fight together for their rights.
Demands:
MRA and RKA
demand from the Goa Government, Ruling Party’s MLAs, Opposition Party’s MLAs,
MPs of Goa to change the Official Language Act 1987 and pass a new bill which
declares Romi Konknni and Marathi as the Official Languages of Goa.
We demand
from the Goa Government to present and pass a Language Bill in the winter
session in the month of December 2013 or to call a special session in the month
of January 2014 and once and for all to settle the issue of Official Languages
of Goa before the Lok Sabha Election 2014. The Official Language Act 1987 has
played havoc in Goa and divided Goans and created hatred towards the native
languages.
Clarion
Call:
If the just
demand of MRA and RKA is not fulfilled at the earliest then the agitation will
continue throughout Goa and it will have unprecedented political implications
both for Parliamentary election and Goa Assembly election. In democracy the
just and lawful demands of the majority should be respected and fulfilled. We
earnestly call upon the Goans to set aside their past prejudices and to support
MRA and RKA to make Romi Konknni and Marathi as the Official Languages of Goa
to unite the Catholic Community and the Hindu Community. A few states in India
have more than one language as the Official Languages. For Example in Bihar: Hindi
and Urdu; in Uttar Pradesh: Hindi and Urdu; in Haryana: Hindi and Punjabi; in
Andhra Pradesh: Telugu and Urdu; in Delhi: Hindi, Urdu and Punjabi; in
Jharkhand: Hindi, Santhali, Oriya, Bengali and Mundari; in Tripura: Kokborok
and Bengali; Daman and Diu: Marathi and Gujarati. If Romi Konknni and Marathi
become the Official Languages of Goa then both the Catholic Community and the
Hindu Community can live peacefully with unity and friendship. Let all of us
who care for Goa make this dream a reality without further delay.
Mr. Pradeep
Ghadi
Amonkar
Fr. (Dr.) Pratap
Naik, S. J.
Convenor of
MRA
Convenor & Spokesperson of
RKA
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