PANAJI
Delhi’s Aam Aadmi Party Deputy Chief Minister Manish Sisodia in an exclusive interview with Prudent Media spoke on the logic behind opening a Konkani Academy in Delhi and how it will bring out the cultural richness of the language in the national capital.
Explaining why there’s need to have Konkani Academy in Delhi, Manish Sisodia pointed out that there are people of India and also Goa, who speak Konkani living in Delhi, and they have been demanding this. “The Konkani speaking community met me and also our Chief Minister Arvind Kejriwal demanding an academy. These people introduced to us the cultural richness of Konkani language. So being the capital of the nation, we thought it was our responsibility to set up an academy of an Indian language in Delhi. Let the whole nation feel proud about the cultural richness of this language. That’s the reason we established the Konkani Academy in Art and Culture department of Delhi government,” said Sisodia.
Replying on the functioning of this academy, Sisodia said that this academy will serve the language in totality, which means promoting young writers, poets, artists to produce and create art and literature. “At this initial stage, it may sound like a Utopian dream but if a person sitting in Goa can watch a Netflix movie, why can’t a person sitting in Spain watch a serial in Konkani? We want to promote the language, and those who wish to make a career out of this language, be it an artist or a writer. There would be scholarships, awards, promotion of the writers, etc. This is a campaign of promotion and support to the language,” stated Sisodia.
To make an institution productive, funds are required. Speaking on the funding for this academy, the Art and Culture minister assured that the Delhi government would be funding it. Stating that the AAP government in Delhi has been working honestly for the past five years and there is no dearth of money in the State. “Our government has been promoting art and culture voraciously. Delhi has seen lot of benchmark programmes in this field. The Konkani Academy will also have research programmes, awards and scholarships, etc,” briefed Sisodia.
While the people of Goa are happy that a Konkani Academy is being formed, they are skeptical about its formation and are asking why there is suddenly this love for Konkani, that too in Delhi’s AAP government. On this, Sisodia argued that the people of Delhi want this Academy to be founded by the AAP government which they have chosen.
This may be a political gimmick. The elections in Goa are nearing. Within a year, Goa will have elections and people in Goa are witnessing that AAP is being active in Goa for the last five-six months. Other political parties allege that this is a move to woo the people of Goa, and attract them towards AAP. Citing this as an unfortunate argument, Sisodia advocated that other political parties must also respect regional languages and local culture.
“I am a political person. But I feel proud that I am promoting an Indian language and making the Konkani speaking people feel happy and proud about their language. Why should there be allegations, instead of being happy that Konkani has been promoted, be it by a political party,” said Sisodia.
Opining on how important it is for the government to come forward to support to preserve a language spoken by a small group of people in a multicultural nation, Sisodia said the language is important. “We should not look at the fact that how many people speak a particular language. Language is important and it takes thousands of years for a language to evolve. It is the responsibility of the government to preserve the culture, traditions and legacy of a language.”
Pointing out that the Delhi government has enhanced the budget for art and culture by three times. Konkani Academy is one of the projects and the government would be funding it. “We invest into the literature. Preserving a language is the moral responsibility of any government,” said Sisodia.
Expressing his interest in literature, Sisodia said he wished he could understand Konkani or read what its stalwarts have written and the formation of Konkani Academy would be a move in this direction, of making the literature in Konkani available in other languages.
