Romi Konkani: As good a time as any, but why now?
Romi Konkani, a beef shortage, the Sancoale protest and more in this week's newsletter from Goa.
Hi folks,
It’s been a week of celebration across Goa, like much of the country, as the lights (and fireworks) of Diwali lit up the neighbourhoods, moods (and lives) of everyone around.
It was also another week of rains, this time due to a low-pressure area somewhere around the south of India that brought with it the north-west monsoon into Goa that threatened to rain on the Narakasur parade. Thankfully, the demons were all slayed and aren’t around to continue haunting us.
That said, I have much to discuss and hopefully provoke a few people along the way.
Let’s begin with the least surprising development of this week. Goa Speaker Ramesh Tawadkar on Friday dismissed the second (of three) petitions filed against the eight Congress MLAs who defected to the BJP in September 2022, barely months after they had taken an oath not to switch sides.
No one was expecting anything different. After all, when even the Supreme Court of India can go against established precedent and tie the hands of the Speaker to the detriment of the then Uddhav Thackeray-led government in Maharashtra and then later give a judgement of only theoretical significance, it should tell you everything you need to know about laws in this country and how they are applied.
The Congress’ combative statements aside, trying to get the defectors disqualified—no point in really tracking this story.
Romi Konkanni: As good a time as any, but why now?
The demand for official recognition of Romi Konkani, or at least the official acknowledgement that Konkani is written ‘officially’ in more than one script, has gained renewed ground after the formation of the Global Konkani Forum a few months ago.
The GKF, which consists of a mix of political activists like Kennedy Afonso, a former aide of Churchill Alemão, and Konkani lovers like José Salvador Fernandes, has begun a global campaign to demand official status for Romi. It is a demand that echoed in the monsoon session of the Goa Legislative Assembly, and the campaign has since continued with the delegations calling on MLAs to endorse their cause, Gram Sabha resolutions to that effect, a protest in Margao last Sunday, etc.
While the demand is genuine and ‘Romi Konkani’ has indeed been shortchanged when the Official Language Act, 1987 (mischievously) defined the “Konkani language” as “Konkani language in Devanagari script” when it was enacted, the question is why now after all these years?
To my mind, there has been no obvious trigger in the recent past to prompt the setting up of a ‘front’ for the issue to be raised once again for the first time in more than a decade.
To that end, I have a theory. It is only a theory at the moment, so feel free to come at me if you disagree.
Is the GKF the next RG?
I see parallels between the Revolutionary Goans movement that started around two and a half years before the 2022 assembly elections and the Global Konkani Forum.
Why do I say so? Both the Revolutionary Goans and the GKF have espoused political causes rooted around identitarian issues that have obvious emotional appeal.
Both have very little chance of achieving their stated goal (of enacting/amending laws to fulfil their demand), but have the potential to swing or split public opinion on issues of their choosing.
Yes, the GKF hasn’t announced a political foray as of now, but I wouldn’t bet against them endorsing candidates no sooner than elections are around the corner. Sure, the GKF is still small and questions remain as to whether it will grow to be as big as RGP did.
Is the GKF building a platform to split votes come the 2027 elections? It is, of course, too early to say, but the signs are definitely there. Are they entitled to do so? Of course they are.
If the Lok Sabha election results are anything to go by, the RG’s effectiveness at splitting the opposition vote appears to have diminished, and in fact the party instead ended up eating into the BJP’s vote share in South Goa.
As an interesting side note, it’s important to notice how the Revolutionary Goans appear to have taken a conveniently-timed hiatus at a time when the realisation has set in that the movement was not going in the intended direction. The brains behind the vote-splitting mechanism need to find a new bandwagon to parade around town: enter GKF.
Will it play out as I have theorised? And more importantly, will it work as intended? Time only will tell... While the idea that the GKF will field candidates seems fanciful, even at this early stage one can reasonably expect that they will at least be endorsing individual candidates to add a different dimension to the polls.
No election is a single-issue election, and the promise of official Romi Konkani has featured prominently in the election manifestos of various political outfits over the years; the last one that comes to mind was Churchill Alemão’s Save Goa Front (2007). Two members of his front were successful—Alemão himself and Reginaldo Lourenço. But when asked about it after the elections, Churchill simply said he would not be pursuing the cause since the voters brought only two of his candidates to power.
Does the fight for Romi Konkani deserve space in Goa’s political landscape? It certainly does, but alongside—and not in place of, or at the cost of—the other battles that Goa is fighting.
But for now, let’s not lose sight of the fact that there are bigger battles to fight and a language (or, for that matter, religious) divide is the last thing Goa needs right now.
No meat on the bone
Residents of several towns in Goa woke up to a'shortage’ of beef in markets, especially Margao, Mapusa, Panaji, and other places.
This'shortage’ is down to the fact that -- to put it mildly -- supply from north Karnataka, where Goa gets most of its beef from, is disrupted.
Self-styled vigilantes have been working in tandem with those checking the borders and stopping vehicles ferrying beef into the state—on grounds that the consignments were ‘illegal’.
There is a lot to carve out here to understand why it has come to this. But essentially it is this. Over the years, Goa has come to depend on Muslim traders hailing mainly from north Karnataka for the beef supply. These traders, rather than use the Goa Meat Complex, the state’s sole authorised slaughterhouse, would ship the slaughtered meat from Karnataka and sell it in Goa. This makes sense for several reasons: firstly, it’s cheaper, and secondly, Goa does not have enough ‘uneconomical’ cattle to feed its demand for meat and relies on neighbouring states, much like it depends on neighbouring states for chicken and vegetables, among other produce.
At the same time, it leaves them treading a legal tightrope that depends largely on the ever-changing monetary and political demands and leanings of those who have the power to control the trade.
The law should be enforced by all means, but not selectively and certainly not at the prodding of extrajudicial elements.
The current episode, like many others in the past, is prompted by increased vigilance by ‘Hindu’ groups, who have by and large been given a free run by the present dispensation.
This wasn’t always the case though; back in 2017, when Goa faced a shortage for similar reasons, then chief minister Manohar Parrikar was quick to defend the beef traders and laid down the law, insisting that no extrajudicial elements would be allowed to play the role of state agencies when it comes to enforcing the law, be it beef transport or any other enforcement.
For reasons that I think are obvious to everyone, enforcing the law is the exclusive authority of the state and its agencies, and no enthusiastic, self-styled individuals should be allowed to interfere or otherwise oversee or commandeer law enforcement functions.
But who’s going to stop them? Certainly not the ‘elected representatives’ or several of the many self-styled leaders of the community. You need to have meat on the bone to do that.
Premanand Naik: Hero or villain?
This week ex-Sancoale sarpanch Premanand Naik ended his hunger strike that he had voluntarily embarked upon, demanding a revocation for the Bhutani project in Sancoale. The local village panchayat is yet to budge, claiming that they are awaiting legal advice before they can take the next step, and the protest has now morphed into a ‘chain hunger strike, with villagers and other activists taking turns to join the protest and make sure those at the helm do not lose sight of the fact that the demand for the revocation of the licences is still on.
It must, however, also be mentioned that Naik was accused of slyly munching on a snack in the washroom he used to visit, and video ‘proof’ was released to the media by his opponents—the ruling panel of the panchayat and their backers—in an attempt to discredit him.
While Naik has denied the charge and questions have been raised about the criminal conduct of the opponents in placing the video camera in the toilet, as well as the authenticity of the imagery, the question that I want to ask (aloud) is: Has Naik’s move been a net positive or net negative for the movement against Bhutan and other projects in Goa?
For context, Naik began his hunger strike the week after Goa was on the boil for derogatory remarks made against St. Francis Xavier by former RSS Chief Subhash Velingkar, and as such, his actions and those of his fellow villagers brought the spotlight back onto the'mega-project’ problem that Goa is currently facing.
People’s movements and protests feed off energy. As a cause gains traction, more and more people lend support, which in turn begins to influence public opinion, and as the chorus grows louder, the protesters expect and demand an audience with the powers that be and assurance of some sort from the powers that be, partially agreeing to their demands or agreeing to withdraw the controversial decision or permission. It is the energy that keeps the protesters going, but sustaining it and for how long is the challenge.
As you are likely aware, the mood against Bhutani and mega projects in general had reached such a height that even the Chief Minister had said that the project licenses should be revoked, if found not in order. The show-cause notices followed, and things seemed to be on the right track.
But since then, the authorities appeared to have developed cold feet. Enter Premanand Naik: a new rallying point for the movement.
Where do we stand now?
On one hand, the protest continues with villagers taking collective responsibility for taking the movement forward. On the other hand, the projects’ backers betrayed their own allegiance in trying to discredit the hunger strike and the movement in general.
It appears that this is going to be a battle of attrition in which the proponents will be eager to break down the villagers resolve or delay it long enough until the protest loses steam, which can happen if the matter reaches the courts.
This can go two ways: either the Aldeia de Goa way, where despite a pitched battle, the project saw the light of day, or it can go the way of the Carmona Raheja project, where the village united in their opposition to the Raheja mega project. Which way will this go?
As they say, you need to strike when the iron is hot.
That’s all I have for you this week. Hope you enjoyed reading this week’s edition of my newsletter as much as I did writing it. Make sure you interact, comment or write in, should you have something, anything to say.
As always, please share and help spread the word. Until next week, then. Tchau!
Unity under adversity is the key
Very true