Speakers say language battle reflects larger fight for diversity and inclusion
MARGAO
The Panchanama conducted by the Global Romi Lipi Abhiyan (GRLA) on Wednesday resolved to seek political change in the next elections, calling on opposition parties to form a grand alliance to defeat the BJP.
The Panchanama, titled “Konknni Avoichea Vengent Ravom-ia”, slammed the government for rejecting a resolution to introduce Romi Konkani in schools, alleging that it had “trampled on the rights and aspirations of the minorities” and shown “no political will” to implement Romi Konkani in Goa’s education system.
Participants resolved that the arguments made by Chief Minister Pramod Sawant to justify the rejection were inaccurate and without merit. They demanded that the government pass a resolution in the forthcoming Assembly session to introduce Romi Konkani from the 3rd standard onwards, as recommended by the NEP Task Force Committee.
GRLA Convenor Kennedy Afonso said, “In the Assembly, the CM said that no PTA or Diocesan School Authorities had ever requested for Romi Konknni to be taught in schools. This is false. The Task Force Committee has resolved that Roman Script and Devanagari should be taught from Std 3rd onwards. We therefore resolve that we will meet all PTAs and Diocesan School Authorities to request them to pass a resolution and send it personally to the CM, so that based on these requests the BJP government could pass a resolution in the next Assembly session.”
The Panchanama also resolved to press for the passage of the Goa State Minorities Commission Bill in the next Assembly.
High Court Advocate Cleofato Coutinho, addressing the gathering, said the demand for Romi Konkani was not merely a linguistic issue but part of a wider struggle for inclusivity. “It is not a script only of a language but a script of culture, inclusivity and heritage. We live in times where homogeneity is becoming the natural philosophy, which is against the very spirit of our diversity. We have to destroy the forces which talk of homogeneity,” he said.
He added: “Almost five lakh people use Roman script and most of them are from the Catholic community in Goa. Ignoring that demand would mean disregarding centuries of literary and cultural development. Death of Roman script would mean death of a culture that makes Goa a mosaic of diversity. The Roman script and Devanagari script can always complement each other as the Cyrillic script and Roman script do in Serbia for the Serbian language. Nobody loses when another script is added to a language; in fact, that language shall become richer.”
Coutinho further said that discord between the Roman and Devanagari scripts had led to disunity among the Konkani-speaking community that had once fought together for recognition of the mother tongue. Accepting Romi Konkani, he argued, would help bring “much-required unity”.
Prof Ramrao Wagh said that injustice had been done to Roman Konkani, pointing to how committees were “packed with people to deny Romi lipi its due place”. He further alleged that education was being “saffronised by the present government” and accused the ruling dispensation of dividing society.
