The 35th anniversary of the Legislative Assembly passing the Official Language Bill, that eventually became an Act, went by almost unnoticed in the State, and this perhaps has to do with the election campaign overshadowing almost everything else that is currently occurring in Goa. Yet, the language does not appear to have been paid much attention in promises made by the political parties. This has been the case always and after having enacted the Official Language Act, little was actually done by any government for the language. It development has been stagnant and it lacks standardisation, which is most important for any language to progress.
One anomaly in the Act remains to this day, as it accords Konkani in the Devanagri script official language status, effectively setting aside Romi Konkani from being the official language, though the Roman script is one that is utilised by a large section of the population when writing in Konkani. Last month, Romi Konkani protagonists had presented a memorandum to all political parties seeking parity with the Devanagri Konkani as the official language. There is no guarantee that this will be taken up by the next government, as despite 35 years having passed, no government has amended the Official Language Act to correct this incongruity and so it remains to this day, putting a large section of Konkani writers at disadvantage.
It is important that the language, which is written in five different scripts – Devanagri, Roman, Kannada, Malayalam and Perso-Arabic – does not get restricted to just a single script because of the obstinacy of successive governments to promote the diversity that the language portrays. Konkani is the mother tongue, and as such it directly connects the Goans with their heritage and defines their socio-cultural identity. Konkani has been and is the core of Goan culture and identity and if it is not kept alive, it is that famed Goan identity that will come under threat. Goa and Goans cannot allow this to happen and so have to work to preserve the language that is their own and that makes them what they are.
Konkani definitely needs to be promoted across all sections, but the people should also be given the freedom to choose the script in which they want to learn and write Konkani. Had the language been traditionally written in just one script, there would be no cause for such a demand, but when a large section of the Konkani speakers, readers and writers are comfortable with the Roman script, why should they be denied the opportunity to have it included in the Official Language Act? The script, again, is not a new issue, but remains festering solely because no government wants to reopen the Act, as it could lead to protests from the other side. But, should one section only benefit from the Act and the other suffer due to this?
Konkani has been a language that has for centuries been facing crises and showing much resilience to overcome them all. It has been precisely because of the great Konkani writers who stood by the language, even as the powers that ruled earlier and governed later did little for the language. There has been no government that has allowed the language to develop. There have been many attempts made to deride the language as a dialect, but it has surmounted them all to take its place in the VIII Schedule of the Constitution. Recently, the language got a big boost when writer Damodar Mauzo was selected for the Jnanpith Award. He is the second Konkani writer to be conferred this award. It is recognised, so why shouldn’t the various scripts in which it is written be supported by the government?
