Mangalore : Former BJP president L K Advani said that participation as the chief guest for the valedictory ceremony of the World Konkani Cultural Convention held at the Nehru Maidan on December 19, Sunday gave him lot of satisfaction and that he was  deeply thankful to the organizers of the convention for inviting him to be a part of the unusual meet of a minority linguistic people who had a recognized language in India.
Expressing his happiness to participate in the event he said that the organizers went on thanking him for participating in the event, but it was not right since he was thankful to them.
He also said that he has learnt Kannada in jail in 1975 when he was imprisoned in Bangalore Jail for 18 months. He also said that he can read the headlines of Udayavani and also can sign his name in Kannada, besides picking up a few Konkani words.
India does not have one single language but there are various strands like linguistic, ethnic, religious and various other details. There is strong unity in the Konkani – speaking people and it is a great strength to see unity in diversity within it, he stated.
Recalling his stand in the opposition party in 1992, he said that the Konkani speaking people had visited him as the minister to include Konkani as the 8th schedule in Indian Constitution and ‘I had happily rendered my full support to it’.
He said that he has seen conventions being held for one week but never saw such kind of convention held for 25 days and given full of programmes working to protect their language and culture.
I had studied in St Patrick School at Karachi and I visited the school whenever I went there. Everyone must be proud of their mother tongue and even I am proud of Sindhi language which is my mother tongue and I read Ramayan and Mahabharath in Sindhi. Don’t ever neglect to study all the languages spoken in India, he said.
I had always opposed English language since people are avoiding their mother tongue but there is need to have command over English, he said.
He also wished the last day of programme to be an exquisite programme and unite all the Konkani speaking people of the country. Further I look for another Konkani convention which will be held in another place and I would like to be a part of it, he added.
Participating as the special guest Chief Minister B S Yeddyurappa, said that Konkani is a secular language spoken by Hindus, Christians and Muslims on the west coast.
He also said that Karnataka is known for religious and language tolerance and he can understand Konkani but cannot speak freely like others. The Konkani speaking people have made immense contributions to the various fields of the society all over the country.
There is need to evolve a common script for Konkani in future. I am working for the welfare of the public from past two and half years and further will also work as I assured.
Speaking on the church attack cases filed against the Christian youths, he said that the judicial enquiry is taking place in this regard and after the election results are out, I will give importance to this matter. The State government is also ready to help to preserve the Konkani language and its culture. A donation will be given in 2011, he said.
Later L K Advani felicitated the chairman Ronald Colaco and Gurkar of the convention Eric Ozario read out the citation.
Rev M. Wilberta B S, Super general, Bethany Congregation and Prof Wilfred Prakash D’Souza Prabhu, Historian and Researcher were the guests of honour.
Ronald Colaco welcomed the guests and gathering on the occasion. Many troupes performed the cultural programmes and the programme which included uniting the nine communities of Konkani attracted the audience attention on the occasion.