The Goan language problem and its resolution

There were a wide variety of responses to the State Legislative Assembly’s resolution on the twelfth of this month to grant official language status to Marathi. As can be imagined, in addition to the delight of Marathi language activists, for whom the explicit status of official language for Marathi has been a matter of principle, there were loud cries of dismay and protest from those for whom Konkani is the only vernacular tongue they consider their own.

In their anger these self-confessed Konkani lovers rejected the idea that Marathi has any Goan history while claiming that Konkani alone is the language of Goa, and that Marathi has ample opportunity to be patronized in Maharashtra.

I believe that this position is a grievous mistake. The fact is that Marathi has a long and legitimate Goan history.  Marathi was an official language when the Portuguese were around. In his book Goan Society in Transition (1975) Bento Graciano D’Souza haw drawn attention to the fact that the Boletim do Governo do Estado da India, i.e. the Gazette of the Portuguese State, used Marathi to communicate with its citizens since the late 1800s. It is also a fact that Marathi was used by the Adil Shahi sultanate, whose territories eventually came to comprise parts of the New Conquests. In Primary Education in Portuguese Goa (2013), Ricardo Cabral highlights that the Portuguese State also backed Marathi-medium government schools in Goa. Scope for the first Marathi Primary school in Panjim was established through a Portaria dated 8 Aug 1843, and by 1847-48 there were five schools in the Marathi language.

Marathi, therefore, does have a historic presence in Goa, and it would be silly to discount patent historical facts. If these Marathi language schools were able to ensure the education of the dominant castes in the New Conquests, it also ensured the education of the upper ranks of the bahujan groups. These bahujan groups deepened their emotional bond with Marathi when they used this language to counter the hegemony that the Saraswat Brahmins attempted to assert, in both late colonial and especially post-colonial Goa, through Nagari Konkani. It is in part this more recent history that has resulted in the insistence that Marathi be officially recognized as an official language, despite the fact that it has effectively been an official language since the enforcement of the Official Language Act, 1987.

However, it should be stressed that these angry responses are not without reason. No matter the history, the recognition of Marathi as an official language will not be without consequence. In the course of my doctoral research a couple of Romi Konkani activists explained to me that the recognition of Marathi as official language would impact on government recruitment. While knowledge of Konkani is today essential for recruitment to a Government post, they explained, Marathi is optional. A recognition of Marathi as an official language would require the knowledge of both Marathi and Konkani, or ensure that those with knowledge of both languages would be preferred for governmental positions. What this means is that Catholic aspirants will essentially lose out in the recruitment process, further marginalizing Catholic groups, and especially the bahujans among these groups.

Seen in this light, the opposition to Marathi is not necessarily a blind opposition but largely the response from marginalized groups fearful for their continued existence. One way to redress this fear would have been along the lines articulated by Dale Luis Menezes in a recent post on social media. As he said, “if justice has to be done, it is not by recognizing Marathi as official but Romi as official first. This is not to say that Marathi shouldn't be recognized, but first it has to be Romi Konkani. Otherwise the Marathi movement, which had anti-caste [and] pro-Bahujan leanings at its start [but] has since now been increasingly reproducing Hindu majoritarian politics, through Marathi mobilization will only lead to more Hindutva.” In formulating the argument in this manner, Menezes hits the nail on the head. As much as Marathi has been associated with bahujan politics, it has, and is, also associated with Hindutva politics. What should also be noted is that with the full recognition of Marathi, we would have a situation where the high (Marathi) and low (Konkani) languages of Hindus in the state are recognized, but those of Catholics and other groups are not. As such, only a simultaneous recognition of Romi Konkani along with Marathi would ensure a state in which justice is meted out to the various groups that call the territory its home.

However, there is also a need to point out the ridiculousness of the propositions that are determining this entire politics. No territory is the home to just one language. Such formulations emerged from antiquated ideas of the Romantic movement and have led to way too many wars and conflicts to be the basis for serious state building. The linguistic reorganization of states of the young state of India in 1956 drew from these problematic and racist politics. What we need is a politics that moves outside of the faulty frame of linguistic homelands and recognizes that the duty of the state is to speak to all of its citizens, in the languages they understand. After all, if the much criticized, if unfairly so, Portuguese state way back in the XIX century could speak to its citizens in languages other than Portuguese, what prevents the Indian state in Goa from doing so in the XXI century with all the technological capacities at its disposal?

Speaking of Portuguese, Pratapsingh Rane, the elder statesperson of the territory, made an interesting intervention in the ongoing debate on languages in our territory.  He is reported to have stated in the assembly that “We should have no problem with any language. I learnt Portuguese because our own documents are in Portuguese,” further adding a critical point that I too made some years ago, “If you want to know the history of what happened in past, you should know this language also.” Indeed, in the coming years the failure to inculcate a knowledge of the Portuguese language in a broader segment of the Goan population will lead to a crisis in both historiography and legal interpretation.

In the recent past there has been much talk about cross-religious bahujan unity. In the spirit of such unity we should welcome the recognition of Marathi as a language. However, such calls for unity cannot be a one-way street. As such, the failure of pro-Marathi activists to also demand the inclusion of Romi Konkani is rightly seen as pushing a Hindutva agenda. It would be useful if we moved away from these narrow linguistic politics to push for an agenda where the State recognizes as official all of the languages that have had a presence in Goa’s recent history.

(A version of this post was first published in the O Heraldo dated 19 Aug 2016)

Eulogy for my father

How sweet a thing is a Christian death.

Once the fact of my father José Manuel’s sudden passing had somewhat sunk into my mind I recollect suddenly smiling to myself. As Christians we are taught that death is only a pause in eternal life. That our loved ones are now among the angels before the very throne of God and that this is a much better location than the one we occupy today. 

This was only one of the teachings that made me smile. The other was the sudden recognition that even though we grieve the physical absence of our loved ones, we also know that on death we are freed from our mortal shells. As such, the departed are also perpetually with us, perhaps closer to us than they were in real life, and always assisting us in our prayers. I have often found these teachings somewhat abstract and it was only with my father’s passing that I realized it emotionally. My father will always be with me, with us, from this moment on. As such, especially given the peaceful manner of his death, this is truly a moment of rejoicing and an occasion to give thanks to God.

You may consider it odd that I choose to open the eulogy of my father with a somewhat catechetical contemplation on Christian death. I am emboldened to do so because the faith meant everything to my father. He was not only raised in the faith by his own parents, the late Manuelinho Tomas Aquino Fernandes and Armina dos Remedios e Fernandes, but he raised us, his sons, in the same faith, providing a model not only through his words, but also in the way he lived his life. Indeed, if his life was marked by anything, it was a solid proximity to the sacraments and the desire to incarnate a Christian life.

Those who know him well will testify to his attempt to be present at the celebration of the Mass every day. He passed on this deep respect for the Mass by teaching all three of his sons how to serve at the altar. This is a kind of intimacy that cannot be explained but is borne out by the fact that in this profoundly secularizing world his sons are more than just ritual Catholics.

In his marriage he could be stubborn and headstrong, but along with his wife, our mother Philomena, he gave witness to a Christian marriage. Their marriage may not have been made in Hollywood, but it was definitely made in heaven. They would often argue, even scream at each other, often to our despair. And yet! And yet, the complete loyalty to each other is something to emulate. The life of my father was one that was filled with trials and tribulations. Through them all, my mother stood by him through thick and thin. He on the other hand demonstrated his loyalty and commitment, and his care, as was his wont, in simple, yet profound ways. I remember, for example, a pilgrimage our family made to the shrine of Nossa Senhora de Montserrat, just outside of Barcelona. We stayed an entire blessed day in the sanctuary. Toward the end of the day cold winds blew through the hills in which the shrine is located. My mother may be a stoic rock when faced with troubles, but she has little resistance to the cold and suffered as we made our way down to the base of the hills. I recollect the way my father sought to shelter my mother, who had no jacket or pullover, with his body. I thought then, as I do now, that there was a profound lesson there in marital and Christian love.

As I just mentioned, my father’s life was marked by trials and tribulations. He worked hard, the poor man, and was often beset by the most horrific incidents. I remember the time a huge machine he was setting up at his industrial unit in Honda crushed his most elegant fingers. Or his heroic battle, assisted once again by the unfailing courage of my mother, against leukemia. He never lost faith though, that God does all things for the best.

Many of you are aware that some decades ago my father made a rather disastrous decision to open an ice factory in Pomburpa. I want to use the words of a friend to describe the reasons for the fiasco. “He was such a fine man, a real gentleman, some would say too fine for today’s twisted world.” In a business environment whose relationship to the law is marked by a wink and a nod, his commitment to honesty as a part of his Christian faith ensured that he complied with the law according to the letter such that he could not compete within the market. He would harass officials with his persistence, but there was no question of paying a bribe. In this respect, he was a man like many Catholics of his generation; God-fearing in the sense of respecting the commandments and trying to live an honest life. There was no shortcut to comfort, or success, only hard, and honest work. As my brother Joshua drew to my attention, our father recognized the dignity of labour, and was not above undertaking the most menial of tasks if it had to be done. Nor did the social station of an individual cause him to treat the individual in an impolite manner. This regard for the dignity of labour is one lesson that we will not soon forget.

Too often these days, these values are lacking around us, and I see in the death of my father, the death of a certain kind of Goan, and we are all the poorer for it. Indeed, if there was one thing that struck me in the condolences that have poured in it was the consistent reference to his charm, his politeness, and his gentlemanly nature.

Amor, was marked by a profound sense of duty and was as such, a faithful son, and committed to his family. He loved with all his heart and might his uncles and aunts, brothers, cousins. So deep was his love for his family that some members of the family knew that they could rely on Amor to fulfill domestic tasks that the children of the house would not. He was above all devoted to his mother. So devoted, that saving the house in Mapuca that she was so proud of was a commitment, perhaps even an obsession, for him. With Joel, my brother, he commenced on what can only be called a labour of love, to save the house from being one more Goan house slated to make way for a block of flats. Having done this, he lovingly restored it. I dare say that today that the Fernandes house in Mapuca stands as a testament to the beauty of the Goa we all cherish so much.

Speaking of Goa, I must point out that there are many aspects of our culture that we learn to despise or are embarrassed by. My father’s love of tiatr and cantaram allowed me to gain respect for these cultural forms. A respect that has allowed me to gain a PhD based on the politics around these forms and in this way highlight their importance to the survival of our cultural world.

Having made these observations on love, there is another aspect to the man that I cannot forget to mention. I wonder if his mother realised how apt was the name, Amor, that she gave him at this cradle. Known to almost the entire Portuguese-speaking world in Goa as Amor, love in all its aspects was something that defined his existence. He was love incarnated. He was the life of any party, the animation of a dance floor. I am very fond of one the sayings attributed to St. Irenaeus, one of the early fathers of the Church, that, “the glory of God is a human being fully alive!” My father had a joy for life and clung on to it fiercely. It was this will to survive, and indeed be fully alive, that allowed him to triumph over his financial crises, as well as the life-threatening conditions he twice found himself in. To this extent my father was a testament to the glory of God.

But he was not just a good time Charlie. My mother revealed to me that my father had a list of names of people he promised to pray for. I know that subsequent to his recovery from cancer he would pray for others with cancer. It is not coincidence, therefore, that the images of the Sacred Hearts of Jesus, and Mary, held a prominent place in our house for as long as I can remember. Our father gave his name to our house, Villa Amor, and it was for this reason, that when looking for an icon for the Villa Amor WhatsApp group, it was obvious to me that a flaming heart was the most appropriate.

I could go on, and on, but I realize that I must stop soon. Before I do so, I would like to recollect his gift of Portuguese citizenship to his sons. Trying to resolve the many mess-ups in the documentation, our father travelled to far-off places, Mysore, Puttur, to get the documentation in order.  These sacrifices have made me alive to the sacrifice of so many Goan parents, who wish merely to pass on this birthright to their children. As you can see, my father was to me not only a good man, he was, he IS, a symbol of an entire culture that may be dying, but is not yet dead, and is as worthy of conservation as the beautiful memory of my father.

I spoke earlier of my brother Joel’s his support to my father’s restoration project. Joel will miss my father profoundly. Daddy was his best buddy, his project partner. I can only imagine the loneliness in his heart right now. Joel has had the privilege of being closest to our parents when they were in need of help. For your presence Joel, and the financial support you have extended when there was need, my sincere thanks.

My father was not a perfect man. He had his flaws. However, as we stand and look back at his life, his goodness, sincerity, and devotion are what come to mind.

I would like to end this eulogy with a reference to the Book of Job. “The Lord gives, the Lord takes away, blessed be the name of the Lord.” For the gift of love that you gave us in the life of Amor, and for the precious minutes we have had with him, we thank you and bless you. We know he is safe by your side. Amen.

(A version of this post was first read out at the funeral of my father at the church of St. Michael the Archangel in Taleigao on 5 July 2016)

Diana and Actaeon: Brexit and the end of empires

‘Diana and Actaeon’ this was the allusion that struck me when I heard the news of Britain’s vote in the recently conducted EU referendum, popularly known as Brexit.

The myth of Diana and Actaeon can be found within the Roman poet Ovid’s epic narrative, Metamorphoses. The tale recounts the fate of a young hunter named Actaeon and his encounter with the chaste Diana, goddess of the hunt. In the myth, Actaeon unwittingly stumbles upon Diana bathing nude in a spring with help from her escort of nymphs. The nymphs scream in surprise and attempt to cover Diana, who, in a fit of embarrassed fury, splashes water upon Actaeon. The hunter is transformed into a deer and, robbed of his ability to speak, promptly flees in fear. It is not long, however, before his own hounds track him down and, failing to recognize their master, tear him apart.

Diana and Actaeon by Paul Manship, 1925.

The myth can be interpreted in multiple ways. In one interpretation, Actaeon could represent David Cameron. Before the 2015 elections in Britain, Mr. Cameron had pledged to hold the referendum on EU membership if his party, the Tories, won a majority. The pledge to hold a referendum was a way of mollifying members of his own party and others, who were unhappy about the UK’s membership in the EU. In making this promise, Cameron disturbed a delicate scene very much like that of the goddess bathing. Given the fact that despite authorizing the referendum Cameron had in fact been campaigning to stay within the EU makes him a figure very much like the unwitting Actaeon, who really had no intention of intruding on Diana’s bath. Regardless of his intentions, however, Cameron has faced an Actaeon-like fate, having now promised to step down from the post of Prime Minister. Only time will tell if this exit marks the end of his political career, but for now, the allusion holds.

Another way to read the myth in the current context is to see Actaeon as the English constituent of Great Britain, who will now be set upon by the hounds that the English have held on an imperial leash for so long. Like so many political entities, Britain is a cobbling together of various entities. Britain was constituted by the imperial ambitions of the English, who first added Wales to their imperium and subsequently Scotland and Ireland. There is a long history of resistance to English imperial rule that has resulted in the assertion of regional identities, as in the case of the Welsh, and wars of independence, as in the case of the Irish. More recently, the Scots made an unsuccessful bid for freedom through a referendum to leave the UK. However, in the wake of Brexit, which shows that the Scots overwhelmingly chose to stay in the European Union, and it was the English who chose to leave it, there is every likelihood that the Scots will demand another referendum. This time round, the English may not be so lucky and find their imperial union being torn apart. England may regret that it trespassed upon a site that it should have left alone in the first place.

Diana and Actaeon by
Giuseppe Cesari, 1603-1606.

A third contemporary reading of the myth could allow Britain to be seen as Diana, who has cursed the Actaeon EU to now potentially be torn apart by the Eurosceptic hounds. No sooner was the Brexit result announced than a host of largely right-wing hyper-nationalist leaders across Europe begin baying for their own version of the referendum. Marie Le Pen, the leader of the National Front in France, made one such demand, as did the Islamophobic, anti-immigration Geert Wilders from the Netherlands. Similar noises also emerged from the Italian Lega Nord or Northern league. In the case of this group, the League would also like to break up the current state of Italy, and there are many in this outfit who would ideally like to get rid of the south of the country, a section that they feel is unduly burdening the more prosperous north of Italy.

While the leadership of the EU suggests that all is under control, one wonders whether this is mere bravado and if Britain has unleashed not merely Actaeon’s hounds but also the dogs of war. Europe was very similarly tied up in a set of international treaties and riven with ethnic tensions on the eve of the Second World War. What was also at stake at the time of this war, and the first, was the future of various empires. In the First World War, it was the future of the Ottoman Empire and the Austro-Hungarian Empire. In the second, it was that of the Japanese and German Empires. There are some who argue that the EU is in fact a non-coercive imperial formation. What is currently at stake, therefore, is the future of another empire. Given the larger state of the world, which exists in a state of armed conflict and the intervention of third-party states, and the fact that a number of treaties that have kept Europe stable during the past fifty years are now coming undone, one wonders if this is what the beginning of the end of the world order as we know it is going to look like.

(A version of this post was first published in The Goan Everyday on 26 June 2016)

Electoral Options and a Politics of Alliances

What is undeniable about the current political climate in Goa is that there are a number of people who are desirous of change. Most of them are in fact singularly opposed to the return of the Congress, as well as the BJP. This is already a good start. The problem is that those who are translating desire into political action and setting up political parties are all after the same pie, and hopelessly divided.  It is this division, and the grandstanding in which each party will field its own candidate which, will ensure that the BJP will return to power. The fact that this singular fact has not seemed to percolate into the public rhetoric of the various parties, and that these various apparent opponents of the BJP are jostling each other suggests that we are in for very dark times indeed. Preventing this should be highest on our agenda. 

What are our options if this is the bleak scenario that faces us in the upcoming elections? There are a couple of solutions that I have to offer. These solutions rest on the argument that we abandon the idea that the next elections are going to bring about a sea-change in Goan politics. Despite the tall claims that are being made by all and sundry, there is going to be no utopia following the elections. Such claims fail to recognize the complexity of the electorate and the electoral system. Indeed, I would argue that some of these utopian claims are based on a fundamental disrespect of the electorate and the way in which the marginalized use their vote. Further, some of challengers of the dominant parties fail to recognize that many of the problems we face are not the result of bad people in politics, but a problematic system that is in place. As such, unless one recognizes that it is the system which is the problem, even a good, honest, person usually becomes part of the same old system or is rendered helpless.

The problems as I see them are the following, first, there is a need to ensure that the BJP does not return to power. The second, is that we need to begin restricting the way in which electoral politics in Goa works. We cannot merely do good within the existent system, the entire system itself has to be overhauled. We are thus faced with one immediate agenda, and another more long-term agenda.

The strategies of BJP-opposed electoral parties in Bihar have already shown us the way to address the short-term goal identified above. Through their strategic grand alliance, the Janata Dal (United), the Rashtriya Janata Dal and the Congress Party effectively routed the BJP. This is the route that all individuals and political outfits serious about change in Goa must necessarily follow. Take the following scenario for example, where the Goa Vikas Party, the Goa Forward Party, the Goa SuRaj Party, the Communist Party, and the AAP come to an agreement that they will support each other, campaign for each other and field a single individual in every constituency. A combination of this sort seems unlikely now, and even crazy, but it would ensure not only a united front against the BJP and Congress, but would also yield a variety of long-term benefits.

To begin with even if a single party currently opposed to the BJP-Congress were to be able to win all forty seats, this would be bad for democracy. First, a ruling party with no opposition is a bad idea. This idea has already been articulated by Amita Kanekar in a recent op-ed, where she argued that “given the limited choices, what we should aim for is simply a weak government.” Her reasoning, with which I concur, is that even though we are constantly urged to vote for a strong government, such governments invariably ignore criticism and overrule normal procedures. Rather than a strong government therefore “ A weak government, i.e. a minority or coalition government, would serve better, with more assembly discussions and cabinet meetings, rather than dictatorial orders, and where everybody might be too concerned about their survival to do much damage.”

Like Kanekar, I propose that we should look to 2017 elections through a pragmatic lens even as we hold utopian visions. The 2017 elections should be an exercise in cooperative behavior, encouraging newer voices and parties to emerge. It is now more than ever that the dictum “united we stand, divided we fall” holds true. The buildup to the 2017 elections and the period until the next legislative elections should be seen as preparatory time necessary to challenge the system that currently obtains. Even as many new entrants to the political scene have begun campaigning, it would be more realistic to recognize that the swing towards new entrants will be minimal. It makes more sense to prepare for the elections scheduled in 2022. We would do well to recognise that the success of currently dominant parties has been built over such a long period and was never the result of campaigns of a couple of months. As such a politics of alliances makes the most sense.

Of course there will be those who will be horrified by this suggestion. “Make alliances with the corrupt and the cynical?” would be the question of groups like AAP in Goa. The various bahujan groups that are trying to cobble together a response in the upcoming elections will ask if the suggestion is to make alliances with the various Brahmin-dominated parties.  To such positions my response would be yes. Mayawati, the leader of the Bahujan Samaj Party, demonstrated that making alliances with Brahmins is not necessarily out of the question. What is important is not rhetorical grandstanding, or ideological purity, but gaining access to political power so as to begin to change the system. However, since process is also important, how one gets to power is also critical.

The politics of purity, whether ideological or otherwise, is a dangerous politics because it presumes a monopoly on the truth, and an almost divine power to realize it. The strategy of alliances would allow a diverse group of voices to get into the legislature. It would open the possibility for a legislative politics that is about debate and mutual respect. This would engender real political change in Goa. Democratic politics is the politics of compromise. One makes priorities, sees what one can suffer, what one cannot, communicates this to one’s partner/s, and then works towards maintaining the alliance, and hopefully influencing the other. When one realizes that the alliance is not working, one can pull out. As Kanekar has pointed out, it is an alliance-based weak government that we should aim for in the upcoming elections, even as our sights are trained for 2022. 

(This post has been profoundly influenced by the theology of Pope Benedict XVI as contained in his encyclical Spe Salvi. I would encourage readers to engage with this text.

A version of this post was first published in the O Heraldo dated 24 June 2016)