From the advent of civilization as we know it, living beings have communicated through gestures, sounds and words, each a language of its own. A bridge that connects a child to her mother, a young child to the clan and the family, and then to society at large. Language defines roots and identity, but it does something much more. It gives you a sense of belonging, it tells you who your loved ones are. Language has never been about countries or geographies or even about culture. It has been about family connects.
This becomes significant in the context of a remark made by the Maharashtra education Minister and MLA from Sawantwadi, Deepak Keserkar, in Goa on Sunday.
He told reporters, “We are also trying to tie up with the Goa government to promote and develop the Marathi language and we will spend huge money to promote Marathi in other parts like Indore, Gwalior, and even Goa.”
With due respect to the Education Minister, there is perhaps a need for education and history to comprehend how out of place the remark was for so many reasons, including not understanding the role of a language as a tool for connecting you to your mother, your family and to your surroundings.
Perhaps the minister, who is incidentally well acquainted with Goa, still sees Goa as part of his state, a hope that was belied by Goans, mainly by the people of South Goa who rejected the merger with Maharashtra, while giving Goa its own state and language. South Goa saved Goa in 1967. That is why there is a government of Goa with its Chief minister and ministers.
If the Opinion Poll has not happened, Goan politicians would at best have been MLAs of Maharashtra with a few getting a chance to be ministers.
Marathi is already promoted in Goa, it’s time to promote Konkani in Maharashtra
And if the minister wants the promotion of his language then he should welcome the promotion of Konkani all across Maharashtra, especially in the educational institutions of the Konkan belt. With so many Goans in Mumbai, Konkani should be compulsorily offered as a language in Mumbai schools.
And by the way, the minister need not worry. Goa is doing a very good job in promoting Marathi. There are seven Marathi papers that are circulated and read in Goa. Suffice it to say that vernacular journalism in Goa is Marathi journalism. People read their newspapers in Marathi, speak in Konkani, and do their official work in English. So, it doesn’t really need Maharashtra’s help in promoting Marathi.
But the argument is beyond that. It is about understanding languages as human connections beyond power games
The moment you step back and do not use language as a religious tool, a power tool, or as a force to establish so-called cultural dominance, states and leaders will understand the joy of languages.
Language can never be “foreign” since it’s a language of the womb
At its very basic level words and sounds of a language, before sentences and grammar, become the best friends of a mother and a child. The happiest times of childhood and the journey to adulthood happen on the road paved with that language. In Goa, Portuguese happens to be that language, not as spoken by a foreign power, but by parents and your siblings.
It’s therefore beyond religion and your country. If you remove language from religious identity, it will become what it is - a connection between people and their hearts.
It’s not a foreign language that they miss. They miss their childhood.
When people in Goa miss speaking in Portuguese because new generations are not picking up, it’s not a foreign language that they miss. They miss their childhood.
And a sensitive look at promoting Portuguese and Konkani in the Roman script, because that is how so many Goan children learned their language; will go a long way in keeping Goans connected to their growing up years, their homes, and their mothers and grannies. And this can easily coexist with Marathi and Konkani in Devanagari script, the exponents of all languages respecting and giving space to each. That is called a true civilisation.
A language also helps you grow. Portuguese-speaking Goans can help grow trade and exports, find work in Europe and Latin America, and help grow their own and the country’s economy because language binds and cements even in the world of business.
We are a small state with a big heart. And with a rich past with different languages of connecting with Portuguese, Konkani and Marathi existing as siblings. Can any minister or Chief Minister as a guardian, love one sibling less?
The well-meaning education minister of Maharashtra, we hope will now be better educated about these sentiments.