PANAJI
Former Chief Minister Luizinho Faleiro has penned a book on the movement that earned Statehood and recognition for Konkani as the official language of Goa on the cusp of which he rode his political career in the 1980s and 1990s decade.
The book ‘The Battle for Konkani and Statehood of Goa’ is set to be released at Raj Bhavan’s Durbar Hall by Governor PS Sreedharan Pillai on September 22, where Chief Minister Pramod Sawant will also be present.
In the book of 18 chapters, Faleiro takes the reader through the history of the time (early years of 1980s) and recalls how it was a ‘people’s movement’ which could not be stopped until Goans got what they set out for -- Official Language status for Konkani and Statehood.
Faleiro, first elected MLA in 1980 when the twin demands of statehood and official language status for Konkani were a crucial peg in the narrative that helped the Devraj Urs faction of the Congress (it merged with Indira Gandhi-led Congress immediately after the election results) to unseat the 15-year rule of Maharashtrawadi Gomantak Party (MGP) in 1979-80. Faleiro was then among the Congress MLAs elected.
Subsequently, a faction of which Faleiro was a part split citing the argument that the Congress was not fulfilling these twin demands and formed the ‘Goa Congress’.
In the subsequent post Indira Gandhi assasination election of 1984, however, the party got mauled but Faleiro was its only MLA to be re-elected. Despite the electoral debacle, the ‘Konkani-Statehood’ movement was launched and Faleiro being its lone MLA along with literateur and Independent legislator Uday Bhembre were important public faces of the movement.
