from daijiworld's special correspondent

Panaji, Feb 20: Ahead of state legislative assembly elections, a movement demanding official language status to Konkani written in Roman script in the state has been launched in the state.

Although, in Goa, Konkani written in Devnagri script, has been accorded official language status, the intellectuals gathered under banner of  Romi Lipiechi Chollvoll (RLC), have demanded that Roman script too should be included in the act.

“If the government fails to do justice then we will start village-to-village campaign against the Congress party and the Nationalist Congress Party,” Fr Concecao Silva, convenor RLC, told reporters here on Monday.
“The RLC will actively support only those candidates who give in writing in their election manifesto that they would amend the Official Language Act to give equal status to Konkani language in Roman script,” he added.

Fr Silva said that the Congress party had done grave injustice to Konkani language in Roman script, when it passed the official language bill, in 1987, and now has to undo it.

The Fr Thomas Stephen Konknni Kendra, Goa Dalgado Akademi, the association of the Goan tiatrists and many other agencies requested the government from time to time to accord the status of the official language to Konkani in Roman script, he recalled.

Goa's former speake of legislative assembly, Tomazinho Cardozo, who also spearheads the Roman script movement, said that Congress manifesto should clearly indicate that the party would give equal status to Konkani in Roman script, at par with Konkani in Devanagri script.

Stating that a majority of people who participated in the language agitation in 1986 were supporters of Konkani in Roman script, Cardozo pointed out, “However, only 3 per cent of these people who were proponents of the Konkani in Devanagri script dominated the scene and misguided the supporters of the Konkani in Roman script.”