Konkani script issue may reach flashpoint

The differences among Konkani language supporters over the demand for recognition to the Roman script on par with Devanagari script may snowball into a major controversy following the call given by Dalgado Konkani Academy to the supporters of Roman script to join a "symbolic rally" organised on Friday to coincide with the inauguration of the three-day silver jubilee convention of All India Konkani Parishad (AIKP).

Academy president Wilson Mazarello and the former President Tomazinho Cardozo renewed their call to Konkani-speaking people to protest and boycott the convention.

The academy has taken a stand that the Official Language Act of 1987 according official status to Konkani language in Devanagari script was a "betrayal of the majority of the State's Konkani-speaking population which was traditionally associated with the use of Roman script in their life."

Mr. Cardozo said they were not opposed to Devanagari script, but they wanted the Government to recognise Konkani in Roman script on par with Devanagari script in the Official Language Act to mitigate the "injustice done to a Goan community, which reads and writes Konkani in the Roman script."

"Because of this Official Language Act, writers, readers, publishers, artists and lovers and promoters of Konkani in Roman script are treated as second rate citizens in the State," said a statement issued by the academy.

Mr. Cardozo said the issue of having the script for Konkani in schools should be left to parents. At present schools in Goa are using only Devanagari script.

With the script issue slowly raising its head, the unity among Konkani people is under threat.