PORVORIM
Hundreds of supporters of the Marathi Rajbhasha Nirdhar Samiti (MRNS) blocked the Old Mandovi Bridge on the Panaji side on Monday morning, as part of their agitation to demand official language status for Marathi.
The protesters, led by Subhash Velingkar, initially gathered neat the KTC bus stand at around 8.30 aṃ and then began proceeding towards the Assembly Complex, but were stopped by a large police force at the entrance of the Old Mandovi bridge.
The protesters then blocked the bridge by staging a sit-in agitation, disrupting peak rush traffic on both sides of the bridge and prompting police to divert traffic along the new Mandovi bridge.
Transport authorities issued an advisory cautioning motorists that the Old Mandovi Bridge had been temporarily closed to vehicular traffic from both sides following the demonstration and that, all traffic was being diverted via the new Mandovi Bridge. Motorists were also appealed to plan their journeys accordingly and exercise caution while travelling through the diversion.
A delegation of MRNS then met Chief Minister Pramod Sawant and presented him a memorandum, demanding official language status to Marathi language.
Later while speaking to media persons, Velingkar said they had completed two rounds of talks with all the MLAs and the government administration.
“Since there was no response from the State government, we were forced to stage this protest. If equal status is not granted to Marathi then the importance of Konkani will also diminish and the influence of English will increase,” said Velingkar.
“If the equal status to Marathi language is not granted immediately, BJP will repent in the ensuing assembly election and will have to pay heavy price for their attitude. We have obtained the signatures of 2,80,000 people from 31 assembly constituencies and if these people decide to vote against BJP, the BJP will lose its power.”
Velingkar said the chief minister had given them a patient hearing.
“We are hopeful that something positive will emerge and hence, we decided to withdraw this protest for the time being. But our agitation will continue till the official status to Marathi language is granted,” said Velingkar. The protestors later dispersed from the site.
Incidentally, the demand for equal status to Marathi language as the official language in Goa has received political backing from the Shiv Sena led by Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde. The party has called on the Goa government to initiate appropriate legal measures and introduce a Bill on the demand during the session.
