Panaji, May 26 (PTI) Criticising Goa government?s decision to allow English as medium of instruction, Bharatiya Bhasha Suraksha Manch (BBSM) on Wednesday likened the Digambar Kamat government to the state's former Portuguese rulers "who tried to finish local culture by displacing local languages."
Goa cabinet today decided to allow English as the medium of instruction in schools, along with Konkani and Marathi languages.
However, BBSM opposed it saying Konkani and Marathi be retained as the medium of instruction in Goa as granting the same status to English would "sabotage" local languages.
?The Portuguese Governor Vassalo de Silva had tried to finish the Goan culture,? BBSM executive member Subhash Velingkar told a press conference.
?Silva had recommended to Portuguese dictator (Antonio de Oliveira) Salazar in 1958 that Devnagari script and local languages should be eliminated,? he added.