Goa’s scourge of twisted tongues

-Soter D’Souza The Konkani-Marathi controversy does not seem to die down. The so promised magic solution to the Medium of Instruction (MoI) by Manohar Parrikar, has proved far from constitutional, scientific and just as one would have expected from an IIT-ian. More important is the silence over the script while speaking about MoI in mother tongue at the primary level. And as Goa’s CM continues to swear that the MoI will be in the mother tongue, I am left to wonder whose mother's tongue and script will my child be compelled to learn. Will it be Vishnu's, Naguesh's, Pundalik's or Muthalik’s mother's tongue that will be thrust down our children's throats? For the Konknni in the Goa Government's education syllabus and administrative affairs is very far from the konkani that flowed from the lips of my mother and grandmother. Or, does the CM indirectly intend to reinforce the rabid belief and propaganda in some circles that my mother’s and grandmother's tongues were less Indian and less patriotic than that of Vishnu's, Naguesh's, Pundalik's and Muthalik’s? And as the reality stands today, there are two classes of Goans and two konkanis, one nationalised (Konknni) and the other denationalized (Konkani). The nationalised Goan claims to be more knowledgeable because (s)he studied in the mother tongue, interestingly not ‘Goyche Maimchi Konkani’ but the ‘Sezareachi Morathi’. This is a fact which the Goa Vision 2035 document has concealed, or chosen to ignore. ‘Susanskrit’ and ‘Santulit’ 2035 does not include respect for all Goan languages and scripts that existed at the time of liberation of Goa as an important ingredient in the preservation and conservation of Goan culture and art. There exists a sizeable segment of Goans that continue to communicate in Konkani using the Roman script and those numbers are growing by the day. Then there are Hindu’s whose mother tongue is Konkani but have no option, except a MoI in Marathi. But ‘Susanskrit’ by 2035 is about the exclusion of the social, emotional and economic development of this fairly large segment of Goans by the forceful and exclusive inclusion of someone's preferred mother's tongues and scripts. Having taken our primary instruction in the English language we do feel proud that our mother's tongue Konkani came to us naturally along with the Roman script and without the State having to invest even a single naya paisa. If English has not helped increase our knowledge, as is claimed by some, it has definitely shaped our ‘Character as Citizens of Democratic India’. Our primary instruction in English has thankfully not instilled values of double speak, scheming, manipulating, opportunism, party hopping and living at public cost - a cancer we see on the rise in some Goans who claim superiority for having been educated in their mother tongue. Clearly, the education in English we received has imparted sound principles for life which power and wealth cannot blow away. Several Goans who have earned laurels for this State and Country had in fact had their primary education in English or Portuguese. Unfortunately, character is not formed by the Language of Instruction in schools, and acquiring of knowledge itself does not entirely build character. Character is primarily built by Family Instruction one receives at home and reinforced by education in school and the larger community. For, if MoI in mother tongue was about building Citizens of Character, then society should not have inherited a large tribe of citizens, who studied in their mother tongue but have no scruples in breaking the law, instilling hatred, getting paid to vote, involved in grabbing what is not theirs and indulging in defections and scams. There should have been no need for a huge police force to patrol the streets nor commissions of inquiry to nail the scamsters. The real problem is that Citizens of Character are missing terribly. And if there were Citizens of Character then probably there would have been no space for Congress and BJP in Goa’s politics. The twisted tongue is more about ‘Merger over Instruction’ (MoI) versus ‘Medium affirming Instruction’ (MaI). (Published in Gomantak Times, 23rd July 2012)