Margao: Eminent educationist and linguist
Ganesh Devi
on Saturday said that a language like
Konkani
, “which has preserved the spirit of freedom,” could become a weapon to save the world from
divisive politics
and religious hatred it is suffering from.
“Konkani is a language which absorbs, influences with grace, and not with regrets. At the moment, in societies all over the world - Germany, France, United States, England, Africa, and West Asia - the politics of rejection, hatred, exclusion, Islamophobia, phobia for various religions, are dominating,” Devi said.
“And what will save the world is not military weapons or backroom diplomacy, but a language or expression possibility which knows how to absorb, accept and welcome, alone can save the world from all the phobias from which the world is suffering.”
Devi was speaking as the chief guest at the inaugural session of the 33rd convention of the
Akhil Bhartiya Konkani Parishad
held at Ravindra Bhavan, Margao.
He further said that “ecology or climate emergency,” and “a technology regime with an increased surveillance of citizens which is making citizens silent” were among the new threats the world was currently facing.
“In Goa, and by extension in coastal India, people have maintained the spirit of freedom despite severe and long prolonged rules of foreign powers, or intimidation from one’s own neighbours.” he said.
“A language which knows how to value freedom, how to accept and integrate various cultural forces, will be the weapon to save the world from all these phobias - not in the form of metals or bullets, but in the form of words,” Devi added.
According to Devi, languages like Konkani provide possibilities for articulating new ways of thinking about society and the world, focusing on humanity and all forms of life. He said Konkani has the potential to alter the destiny of humans and bring peace, amity, harmony, and tolerance to the world.
President of the
All India Konkani Parishad
, Fr Mousinho de Ataide, in his address, cautioned against amending the Official Language Act, or tampering with education, to accommodate the demands of the Roman Konkani script or the Marathi language camp.
He, however, suggested the formation of a transliteration centre that would make available literature produced in various Konkani scripts into Devanagari, and producing a thesaurus in Konkani that would incorporate words and phrases from the various dialects of Konkani.
English (US) ·