PANAJI
Chief Minister Pramod Sawant on Friday made a strong pitch for Konkani to be made one of the two official languages of business at the Bombay High Court bench in Goa.
Speaking at the 8th International Hindi Conference, which is being held in the coastal state, Sawant also said that Hindi was a key element in maintaining India’s unity amid the diversity which the country is also known for and to keep the dream of carving out an Akhand Bharat going.
“In Goa, only English was used for legislature language, it is now in English and Konkani. The Bombay High Court branch in Goa functions in English. When we go to the judiciary to seek justice, it should work in Konkani. It will be our endeavour to ensure that it should function in English as well as in Konkani. We will write to the High Court,” Sawant said.
The Chief Minister also said that the country’s smallest state was multilingual in its own special way.
“Goa is known for four languages. We speak in Konkani, we prefer to read Marathi newspapers, we prefer to watch films in Hindi and while writing we prefer to use English. This is a state which is always known for four languages,” the Chief Minister said.
Sawant also said that Hindi was critical to the country’s philosophy of unity in diversity. “We are united in diversity and Akhand Bharat which we have been dreaming about, I will say that when we are speaking about Akhand Bharat. We have moved ahead with the slogan ‘Jaya hue balidan Mukherjee voh Kashmir hamara hai’,” the Chief Minister said.
“I will also say, ‘Jaya hue balidan Mukherjee voh Kashmir hamara hai’ and the dream has been made real by Prime Minister Narendra Modi. To maintain this unity it is important to promote Hindi,” he further said.
He also said that the more Hindi is used and promoted, the more regional languages would flourish. “Hindi should be put to practical use in all states, whether it is in terms of use as official language, legal language or in routine language. Hindi should be a language of transaction. If state governments increasingly use Hindi, then regional languages will also benefit,” he said.
“But I want to say one thing. We have made official gazette publication in English as well as in Hindi. Earlier some gazettes were published only in English. Now all the gazettes of the government of India are published in Hindi too,” he also said.
