Hitting out at the politicisation of ‘Goenkarponn’ as a ploy to divert public attention, former chief minister and veteran Congress leader Ravi Naik insists that ‘Goenkarponn’ is inherently in the blood of every Goenkar. In an interview with THE GOAN, Ravi believes that ‘Goenkarponn’ existed long before campaigning for the 2017 elections
PONDA
Q: Politicians have begun singing tunes about ‘Goenkarponn’. Is it justified?
Ravi Naik (RN): This is clear-cut politics by those propagating ideas of ‘Goenkarponn’. Be it Chief Minister Manohar Parrikar, Minister for Town and Country Planning Vijai Sardesai or Governor Mridula Sinha. They are politicizing this issue to divert attention of the public.
Q: What do you mean by diverting attention?
RN: They couldn’t fulfill promises they had assured to the public and so, they needed some issue to divert attention. Hence, they are now talking about ‘Goenkarponn’. I want to ask them, what do they mean by ‘Goenkarponn’? We have already protected ‘Goenkarponn’ during the Opinion Poll, by saving Goa from merging into Maharashtra. I had personally fought for ‘Goenkarponn’ during this movement along with Jack Sequeira.
That was real ‘Goenkarponn’ that we showed. Now, where is the need to speak about something which is already there?
Q: Even if it is clear-cut politics, it worked among the voters as they elected three MLAs from the Goa Forward Party that had ‘Goenkarponn’ as its slogan. It shows that the concept is still relevant at a time when Goan identity is seen to be under threat.
RN: The slogan of ‘Goenkarponn’ did not help them win three seats. The party had initially presented itself as an anti-BJP party. There was one force against the BJP and the anti-incumbency factor against the BJP helped GFP to win three seats.
Q: For TCP Minister Vijai Sardesai, ‘Goenkarponn’ is centered around Konkani ‘monis’ and ‘monisponn’. He makes it clear that he is only promoting Konkani as the sole mother tongue and is limiting Marathi as only the language of culture. Do you agree with it?
RN: I think we should not mix up the issue. I don’t know what these politicians (who utter Goenkarponn) want to prove about ‘Goenkarponn’. They seem to be having wrong impression that public are fools and they will fool them.
I will again say, by bringing mother tongue issue, ‘Goenkarponn’ shouldn’t be politicized. Goa remained an
