TEAM HERALD
MARGAO: Saying that the official language of the State should be one which can get votes for the politicians and political parties, Fatorda MLA Vijai Sardessai on Monday dared BJP MLAs and Leader of the Opposition Pratapsing Rane to seek votes in Marathi.
He was speaking at the inauguration of the 21-day long programme held to impart Konkani training for government employees as part of the programme to implement the Official Language Act in the district Collectorate on Monday.
“We were all taken aback when BJP MLAs started speaking in Marathi in the Legislative Assembly. The Opposition Leader also joined the BJP MLA when I asked them whether the elected MLAs were participating in some Panchayat in Maharashtra,” he recalled, and challenged BJP MLAs to seek votes in Marathi.
“Konkani was recognised as the Official language more than 25 years ago, but has still not got the justice because successive government had no political backbone to implement the Official Language Act. The time has come to demand justice,” he said, while complimenting Chief Minister, Manohar Parrikar for putting an end to the language row by coming out openly in favour of the Official Language Act.
During the 21 day programme, government employees will be imparted training on use of Konkani language for official purpose, including how to put notings, etc. Officials of the central government have already been trained by the government and the exercise is underway to train State government employees.
