A Konkani-speaking person is identified with the language and not with his or her caste or creed, said Basthi Vaman Shenoy, President, World Konkani Centre. He was speaking after inaugurating ‘Konkani Convention’, an event organised by Konkani Samskrutika Sangha, Mangalore, in the city on Sunday. He said, “Konkani is a language, not a religion or a caste”.
Venkatesh Baliga, president, Konkani Cultural Forum, said Konkani-speaking people a small community of 35 to 40 lakh, face an identity crisis. One of the reasons is that Konkani written in one part of the coast cannot be read by people in another part.
People in coastal Karnataka read the language in Kannada while the Konkani Sahitya Kendra accepts the language when it is written in Devanagari script. Devadas Pai, Registrar, Konkani Academy, said in the past six years, Konkani-speaking people have not come forward to help write Konkani textbooks. Everyone is welcome to join in writing textbooks, any suggestion was welcome.
