Mapusa meeting seeks official status, protection for Marathi

NT Reporter

Mapusa

The Marathi Rajbhasha Nirdhar Samiti held a morcha followed by a public meeting in Mapusa on Saturday, demanding that Marathi be declared the official language.

At the meeting, the Samiti’s convener, Subhash Velingkar, defended the Marathi language and criticised the government’s language and education policies. “We are not weak. There are still people in Goa with self-respect. This party has tried to influence people using money power, but it should not live under the illusion that elections can always be won through money power,” he said.

Velingkar said Marathi is central to Goa’s identity. “Marathi is not just a language but the identity and pride of Goa. We have nurtured it,”
he said.

He said that despite efforts by the Portuguese to promote their language, Marathi remained dominant. “Eight months before Goa’s liberation in 1960, the parliament in Lisbon passed a resolution recognising Marathi as the language of Goa,” he said.

Raising concerns over education policy, he said Marathi-medium schools have been closing over the last 14 years. “The BJP has been in power for 14 years, and they could not run Marathi government schools,” he said.

He said that if Marathi is not declared the state language this year, the government will face electoral rejection. “We will not let it stand. Any government that cannot protect the Marathi language will not be accepted,” he said.