He said, “The suppression by Church today is much larger than the way Portuguese suppressed it (the Indian culture and ethos) in the 16th and 17th centuries.” He lashed out at the Church for promoting the English medium at the primary level, claiming it to be a design to suppress the Indian culture and ethos. He alleged that the Church in Goa is doing what the Portuguese could not do to finish Indian culture.
Uday Bhembre did not lag far behind. According to him, “The Goa government is acting under the pressure of 25% for the simple reason that 75% are silent. Time has come to show the strength of the majority.” He alleges that Goan society is ailing with chronic disease and surgery is the only solution to it, not simple treatment.
There are some things that we need to reflect upon objectively. First of all the medium of instruction at the primary level is not a Church-promoted and backed issue. It is an issue that concerns the parents of primary school children. They are only asking to be given the choice of English as the medium of instruction for their children in the primary school. Have the parents no right to decide what is good for their children and to be concerned about the future of their children? The very fact that parents owing allegiance to different religions are making a full-throated demand for the English medium clearly explains that there are no communal overtones to the movement, whereas Karmali and Bhembre are painting the issue in communal colours.
How is the English medium of instruction a way of destroying Indian culture, is something that I am at a loss to understand. To initiate small children into the Indian culture, the books must contain the right kind of content material. The teachers have to inculcate in the students a love for their culture not only through the syllabus that they teach but through all other curricular and co-curricular activities in the school. And most importantly, India’s pluralistic secular society should have an important place in the assimilation of Indian culture.
Do Karmali and Bhembre mean to imply that the study of English destroys the Indian culture? What happens to those Indian students who study at all levels in English in India and abroad? Do they not love India and its culture?
What does this 25% and 75% mean? Goa has always maintained its unity. Besides, to make a comment that the government acts under ‘minority’ pressure sounds very silly. To say that the ‘majority’ is silent, is a big joke. It was this same communal fire that people like Karmali and Bhembre were trying to fan that changed ‘Konkani’ to ‘Konkani in Devanagari script’ while formulating Goa’s official language. It was largely this so-called 25% that helped make ‘Konkani’ the official language of Goa and yet by naming it as ‘Konkani in Devanagari script’, it is the 75% that is reaping all the benefits, including the Konkani awards.
