Write Comment     |     E-Mail To a Friend     |     Facebook     |     Twitter     |     Print

MANGALORE: Chief Minister B.S. Yeddyurappa has said that he will pay “special attention” to two demand for assistance for Konkani cultural organisations and withdrawal of cases filed against Konkani people during the 2008 church attacks, after zilla panchayat elections.

The Chief Minister said his Government was committed to the protection of the Konkani language, especially as half the country’s Konkani-speaking people were in Karnataka.

Mr. Yeddyurappa was speaking at the valedictory of the First World Konkani Cultural Convention, which was held from November 25 to December 19, 2010 at “Kalaangann”, a centre for Konkani culture, in Mangalore. He was responding to a plea from Ronald Colaco, a philanthropist.

Mr. Colaco said that in the 2008 church attacks, FIRs were filed against 151 students. He requested the Government to drop the cases as Konkani-speaking people were peace-loving. He sought Government’s assistance to “Kalaangann”, a cultural association.

Mr. Yeddyurappa said that of the 50 lakh Konkani-speaking people, many were in Mangalore and had contributed to several spheres of life. They had been pioneers in banking, education, healthcare, theatre, and fine arts. Girish Karnad, C.G. Kamath, and Karnad Sadashiv Rao were some of them.

“There is a need to evolve a common script for Konkani and the world conference must have pondered over this issue. The BJP Government extended Rs. 40 lakh to the Konkani academy last year,” he said.

The former Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani, chief guest at the function, said he had thought the major chunk of Konkani-speaking people were in Goa but said he had learnt that there was a greater number of people speaking the language in Karnataka.

He said he understood the value people attached to their mother tongue as he spoke Sindhi, a language spoken by people who were settled throughout India. He learnt Sindhi and English first and learnt Hindi only at the age of 20, he said.

Mr. Advani said English gave an advantage like no other language to communicate with the world. People should not neglect English at the same time while everyone should be proud of his or her mother tongue. He said he had been telling many that the BJP’s quarrel was not with English but with the “slavish mentality” that some people associated it with (not “angrezi” but “angreziyat”).

He appreciated that Konkani was spoken by people across religions, regions and ethnic strands.

Mr. Colaco was honoured as “Vishwa Konkani Samaaj Ratna” for his philanthropic work and efforts for Konkani community, language and culture by Mr. Advani.

Eric Ozario, gurkaar, Mandd Sobhann, the cultural association of Konkani-speaking people, and Louis J. Pinto, president, Mandd Sobhann, were present. The programme included Konkani songs and a short play symbolising different groups that spoke the Konkani language