It’s not a coincidence that at the swearing in ceremony of Laxmikant Parsekar’s government, barring Francis D’Souza, every other minister took the oath of office and secrecy in Marathi. Befittingly, the Konkani Bhasha Mandal condemned this act.
I remember, this happened 10-11 years ago, when I attended the book release function of Zenaides Morenas of Chandor, who had documented the Mussol Khel – Adv.Uday Bhembre, the chief guest of the function, spoke about Goanness and the unique heritage that has been handed down to us. As part of his erudite keynote address, he had a barrage of verbal attack on Marathi-vaad (pro Marathi leaning) and at that time, I thought to myself that the Marathi issue was settled in Goa – one, by Konkani getting its rightful place in the 8th Schedule of the Constitution, and two, by the fact that Konkani was the official language of Goa. I should have known better. Because the passionate advocate from Margao was speaking from lifelong experience – of not just being one of the key champions of keeping Goa separate from the merger with Maharashtra, but by being one of the pillars of the Konkani movement. His words still reverberate in my mind when he had cautioned us against the Marathi-vaad. It may be placed on record here that Bhembre and his companions bore no grudge towards Marathi, but espoused greater pride for our mother tongue – Konkani. In fact, he wrote a razor sharp column, Brahmastra, in daily Rashramat in Marathi, inciting and cautioning Goans not to fall prey to Maharashtra’s designs to gobble up our little land. (Some of these articles have been compiled and published by Rajhauns in a book).
So, as we approach another ‘Asmitai Dis’ (16th January) that celebrates Goa’s victory in the Opinion Poll, maybe we should ponder over the fact whether we have remained truly Goan.
Going by the Marathi culture of the current disposition, I feel that we are governed by proxy – by a Marathi thought, which in my opinion is not Goan. The fact that the chief minister sheepishly addresses his citizens and tells them that getting special status for Goa is not that easy a task, I wonder what is. The promise that having a BJP government at the Centre and in Goa would be best for the State, appears like a cheque that has been returned dishonoured – not just for lack of funds to the State, but also because there seemed to be no intention of honouring it in the first place. In all fairness to the BJP in Goa and Manohar Parrikar, the former chief minister had never made explicit promises of getting special status for Goa, but neither was he oblivious to the movement and he never rejected it outright. He surely kept the protagonists of the special status movement in good humour when he was Leader of Opposition. That apart, one cannot forget that there was certainly a promise made for an economic package for Goa when Narendra Modi addressed a gigantic meeting at Merces, last year, in the run-up to the general elections. But even that looks like a mirage to a State that is groaning under economic pain. And just the other day, the Industries Minister Mahadev Naik has conveniently moved the goalpost by saying that the fifty thousand jobs and 25 thousand crores investment envisaged by the Investment Policy that was launched with great fanfare in 2013 (and which came into force at the end of last year) is unachievable. He made it worse by saying that if his party came to power in 2017, this goal could be achieved.
What should we make out of this? Conventional wisdom would make one believe that if a political party has absolute majority in the House (and therefore stability), the policies made would be easy to put into action. Goa has once again proved to be an exception. And today, we are reduced to being a gambling destination – nothing more.
I am not sure what will be playing on in the minds of the likes of Uday Bhembre, who literally sacrificed everything to fight and win the battle to assert our Goanness – not just against the Maharashtravaadi Gomantak Party (MGP) government of the day, but also against the financial muscle and clout of Maharashtra. The departed leaders of the anti-merger movement, who are no longer with us, would surely not have visualized this for Goa. In retrospect, the only statement that makes sense today is the one jeeringly made by Pandit Jawaharlal Nehru – ajeeb hai yeh Goa ke log (these Goans are a strange lot).
(Harshvardhan Bhatkuly is a lawyer, writer and social commentator.)
