Team Goemkarponn
CANACONA: Marathi protagonist Subhash Velingkar on Sunday said that just as Catholics and Muslims have vote banks, a dedicated vote bank of Marathi lovers will soon be created in Goa, which will compel the government to accord official state language status to Marathi.
Addressing a meeting of the Marathi Lovers’ Canacona Block at Nirakar Devalaya, Bhagatwada, Velingkar said that a massive public rally of 50,000 Marathi supporters will be held in Panaji in the coming months. “Before that, village-level meetings will be organised by involving Ganeshotsav mandals, Shiv Jayanti Utsav mandals, theatre groups, bhajani mandals, women’s groups and others,” he added.
Velingkar, who heads the Marathi Official Language Determination Committee, said youth will be trained to promote Marathi, and only those pledging support for Marathi as an official language will be backed electorally. He alleged the government is planning to shut down 50 Marathi schools, terming it as a blow to nationalism. “So far, claims of equal status for Marathi have been a deception. Real awareness will now be created across municipalities and 182 panchayats,” he said, calling the current government “illegally formed”.
Committee president G. R. Dhavalikar said the Marathi movement was historically centered in Margao but was weakened after 1961 when the Congress and Nehru supported “Konkaniwadis”. He called Konkani a dialect with no active readership and reiterated, “Our language is Marathi.”
Committee member Shantaji Naik Gaonkar said Canacona has always played a key role in the Marathi language movement, and the fight will be revived from here.
Rajendra Desai, president of Shri Mallikarjun Devalaya, said the RSS should push CM Pramod Sawant for official status to Marathi. “The CM is a product of RSS. Let them demand it—I will support the demand,” he stated.
Bajrang Dal South Goa vice-president Suhas Naik, councillors Neetu Desai and Hemant Naik Gaonkar, Hindavi Committee president Dilkhush Shet, Sunil Paingankar, and local Marathi lovers including Shravani Pednekar, Isha Desai, Shubhalakshmi Gaonkar, Apeksha Belunkar, Santoshi Angadikar, and Mayur Kankonkar also participated and shared their views.
