The Global Romi Lipi Abhiyan (GRLA) has strongly condemned Chief Minister Pramod Sawant's recent statement suggesting that those who prefer the Roman script for Konkani lack the spirit of true Goenkaarponn. Today if Konkani is enjoying it's rightful place in the Official Language Act, 1987 and the Devnagri-Konkani script supporters are still enjoying their 'acche-din' then it is mainly due to the sacrifices of the Romi Konkani supporters alone during the language agitation in Goa. Besides that, the Roman Konkani supporters have also fought to keep Goa as a seperate state by voting in large numbers against its merger into Maharashtra during the historic opinion poll and are still fighting to save what is still left of this state by daring to raise their voice against the destructive policies of our ruling politicians. CM Sawant should therefore stop teaching the definition of 'Goenkarponn' for these Roman-script Konkani supporting Goans and instead should teach the same for those preferring Marathi for Konkani to promote 'Maharashtrawadi-ponn' in the state. Roman Konkani supporters are the real torch-bearers of 'Goenkarponn' and not those who are inwardly working to finish the unique identity of Goa by promoting Marathi.
