The Global Konknni Forum has re newed its demand for equal official recognition of Konkani written in the Roman script, urging the Goa government to amend the Goa Official Language Act, 1987, and place Romi Konkani on par with Konka ni in the Devanagari script. At a press conference in Margao, the Forum said the renewed debate over Goa’s language policy provided an opportunity to resolve an issue that had remained pending for nearly four decades. Forum secretary Jose Sal vador Fernandes said gen erations of Goans had writ ten, read, performed and preserved Konkani in the Roman script, making it an integral part of the state’s lit erary and cultural heritage. “A script is not merely a collection of letters. Over generations, it carries liter ature, cultural memory and the historical experiences of the people who use it,” he said. The Forum stressed that its demand was not di rected against Devanagari Konkani or intended to dilute its existing status as the official language.
Instead, it sought legal equality for what it described as a living literary, cultural and linguistic tradition. Forum president Antonio Alvares said government grants and cultural schemes supporting Romi Konkani could not substitute for statutory recognition. “A grant is not equality. Cultural support is not legal rec ognition,” he said, arguing that Romi Konkani required equality under the law rather than merely financial assis tance. The Forum’s three demands include an amendment to the Official Language Act to accord equal official recogni tion to Konkani in the Roman script; a legal and adminis trative framework facilitating its use in official commu nication and government purposes wherever applicable; and recognition of Romi Konkani as a legitimate medium of education, with its introduction as an optional medi um wherever there is sufficient demand and educational feasibility.
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The Forum also called on the government and political parties to clearly state their position on the issue. “If Konkani in the Romi script is an accepted part of Goa’s linguistic and cultural heritage, why should it remain out side equal official recognition?” it asked. Fernandes said the Forum was seeking neither confron tation nor preferential treatment, but equality under the law. “Nearly four decades after the Official Language Act was enacted, the time has come to address this unfinished question. Konkani cannot be complete in law while Romi Konkani remains incomplete in recognition,” the Forum said.
