from daijiworld's special correspondent
Panaji, Jul 10: The 66th anniversary celebration of the All India Konkani Parishad held in Karwar on Saturday, July 8 unanimously condemned the efforts of the communal forces that are active on the pretext of demanding recognition for Roman script and called on to immediately stop this activity which is set to divide the Konkani community on communal lines.
"Acts going on in the name of Roman Konkani, very clearly based on consolidatating a particular minority community are condemned by Parishad, which is formed to forge an alliance of Konkani community on the basis of one language, one script and one Konkani Community," says the rosolution adopted at Karwar.
All India Konkani Parishad president Paul Moras, working presidentN Shivdas, secretary general Raju Nayak, and executive members Prof Suresh Amonkar, Dr Tanaji Halarnkar, Basti Vaman Shenoy, Nagesh Karmali and Tukaram Shet were on the dais when the resolution was adopted at Karwar, the birth place of the Parishad formed 67 years ago.
The committed audience attending the convention strongly supported the resolution with a standing ovation. The Convention was attended by a large number of Konkani activists from Goa as well as Karnataka. Well-known social worker Dr S R Pikle demanded the merger the Konkani-speaking areas of Karwar taluka in Goa. This demand also gained huge support from the audience. Pikle appealed to the local people to start the movement in this regard.
The main resolution which was adopted is as follows:
"The demand for recognition of the Roman script for Konkani is being raised by some people in Konkani's homeland Goa. This demand is making an appeal to a particular religious group and is consciously set to divide the Goan community on religious and casteist grounds. This act is spreading the poison of communalism, which until now had no place in the Konkani movement, and might have a very bad repurcussion. Therefore we have to stop this nuisance immediately."
"The All India Konkani Parishad is commited to building a strong, vibrant Konkani-speaking community on the basis of linguistic identity and through the well-accepted thread of the Devnagari script. However the Parishad so far has never opposed any script being traditionally used by different Konkani sub communities for different historical reasons. They will and may be used until they are needed and desired by people. In these circumstances, the communal and casteist attempts by some people to divide the community by raking up the issue of the Roman script is higly deplorable and comdemnable. The convention of the Parishad is held to commemorate its 66th anniversy unanimously and strongly condemns this act. It also demands that the government does not touch the Language Act which empowers the Konkani language as the state language and also does not by its act in any way encourage communal forces."
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