MARGAO
The Global Konknni Forum has hailed what it called the prudent and rational statement made by Datta Naik in a vernacular Goan daily in reply to Uday Bhembre’s statement.
Forum president Kennedy Afonso said that Datta Naik has hit the nail on the head by stating that the decision to make Devanagari the sole official script of Konkani while enacting the Official Language Act of 1987 has betrayed and hurt the feelings of the Catholic community.
This community was at the forefront of the Konkani movement in 1986 and during the Opinion Poll that prevented Goa’s merger into Maharashtra. “This is a fact that none can refute. Except for the rigid stance of a few individuals like Uday Bhembre, we know from the 53 gram sabha resolutions passed in various panchayats that no member from the Hindu community raised any objection in the gram sabhas while passing the resolution to give equal status to the Roman script or to introduce Roman script Konkani into schools,” Kennedy said.
He further said, “Uday Bhembre has failed, till today, to explain what criteria were used by the Sahitya Akademi Konkani Advisory Board in 1981, of which he was a part, when they unanimously passed Devanagari as the only official script of Konkani over five other scripts. Uday Bhembre must admit that this decision was made through chicanery, by filling the Konkani Advisory Board with supporters of the Devanagari lobby, and that no linguistic criteria were used to evaluate the five scripts.”
Demanding to know why Uday Bhembre and the Devanagari lobby opposed the introduction of Roman script Konkani into schools, Kennedy said the Official Language Act has nothing to do with the introduction of the Roman script into schools, as it is solely the prerogative of the government and the education department.
“If, back in 1987, Uday Bhembre suggested that Romi Konkani should be allowed to continue for the next 25 years, what is preventing him from now saying that the Roman script should be allowed into schools for the script to survive? Uday Bhembre is in the habit of making videos and press statements, and he must clarify these two points in a press statement,” he added.
