Unity is strength, but nothing has even been a bigger threat to Goan unity than our very own self-centered politicians. At the time of liberation, we could have asked for and got almost anything served on the platter if we had only spoken in one voice. Alas, instead of doing this, a section of our politicians instigated and misguided people into demanding a merger with the neighboring State of Maharashtra. Although Goa did not merge with Maharashtra, it was left vulnerable to influx, resulting in large portions of Maharashtra, Bihar, Gujarat, Kerala, Karnataka and other States literally merging into Goa to leave us on the brink of becoming strangers in our own land. Ironically, now when we are almost being outnumbered, everyone wants the much hyped ambiguity called Special Status to save our Goykarpon!
Half a century has slipped away since the historical Opinion Poll, 30 years since the bloody language agitation that left Goa paralyzed for over two week. Things have changed, Goa is now a full-fledged State of the Indian Union and what is of even more relevance is the fact that our literacy levels have gone up from 30% to almost 100% (really?). But despite this, dividing Goans on sentimental issues for political gains still remains the triumph card for our politicians!
Blatant corruption, wholesale loot & plunder, U-turns and utter failures on most fronts are fast eating into the vitals of our still beautiful land, but shameless politicians have chosen to rake up the long settled Konkani-Marathi language issue all over again. Perhaps the plan is to whip up a frenzy over this sensitive issue, push real burning issues into the background and somehow grab power. In the din & dust that follows, they can perhaps even bring in a dozen more casinos for hefty kickbacks to turn Goa into a sin city of India! How else can one explain such misadventures?!
All over the land, from the south to the North and the East to the West, only Konkani is spoken. But despite not being the native language of Goa, Marathi has been given a pride of place because of its cultural significance to majority Hindus. This in itself is a great injustice to our local language, our mother tongue Konkani! If you go to the Police Station today, chances are that the ‘Pandu Havaldar’ will write the FIR in Marathi and ask you to sign… One can well imagine the plight of Goykars if Marathi is given official Status on par with Konkani! Its time we Goans wake up and see through the dirty gimmicks of these cunning minds that pretend to represent us and confine them to the dust bins.
On hindsight, I often feel that the Opinion Poll should have been held separately for Old conquest and New Conquest areas of Goa. That way, pseudo Goans could also have their dream of becoming Maharashtrians realized and genuine proud Goans would have been left to live in peace and progress. Perhaps we can still do it by bifurcating the State into two – Goa (Old conquest areas) and New Goa. If anyone feels that Goa is already too small, think of the countries smaller than the talukas of Goa that have bagged gold medals in Olympics or are ranked higher by FIFA. What matters is unity of like minds.
