Ravi Naik, the Congress candidate from Ponda has a practical explanation for omitting Konkani as a medium of communication to voters in his constituency. His manifesto was printed in Marathi, English and Kannada. When asked why Konkani was not necessary in a State where it is the official language, Naik quipped that those who speak Konkani can read English and Marathi and hence there was no need to use the official language. He also explained that there are over 2,000 voters from the Kannadiga community and it was important to reach out to them, which is believable especially in the smaller constituencies of Goa where a few hundred votes could decide the outcome of an election.
Naik cannot be faulted for being practical, but his approach to the elections outlines demographic changes that are taking place in the State. Former Karnataka chief minister B R Yeddyurappa was roped in by the BJP to campaign in Kannadiga pockets and he made an appeal to a hamlet in the Taleigao constituency which has around 1,000 votes. According to the 2011 census, the State is home to around 74,000 people of Karnataka origin and when their number crosses a certain limit in a constituency they become important to candidates.
This situation also underlines how Goa is changing. Of the 13.48 lakh population in 2001 for which statistics are available, around 2.10 lakh recorded languages other than Konkani or Marathi as their mother tongues. They constitute around 15.5 per cent of the total population registered in the 2001 census. Of these, Hindi speakers form the largest group with 76,000 followed by Kannada. The next largest groups comprises of 54,000 who registered Urdu as their mother tongue followed by Malayalam with 15,000. These groups cannot be ignored by candidates.
Unlike the period between two elections when politicians pay lip service to local languages, but do little to aid them, it is at the time of elections that the true impact of languages is felt and Ravi Naik’s approach reflects ground realities. Goa is changing and one does not know what the next census will throw up in 2021, but the State needs to also face the reality that parts of it are quickly acquiring cosmopolitan status, where identities begin to blur. It was a fear of being swamped by influx of migrants from other states that sparked off demands for special status. Central leaders came and promised to deliver of this demand but failed to create the legal infrastructure to protect the Goan identity. Goans can still seek refuge in numbers as nearly 10.73 lakh people who constitute 79.5 per cent of the population registered their mother tongues as either Konkani or Marathi.
Rapid development in the tourism, real estate and mining sectors has turned the State into a magnet for labour and further development will have a larger impact on the demographic structure. Since there is no law to curb entry and exit of citizens of the nation, Goa might just have to take the good that comes with development along with the undesirable.
