India, Aug. 26 -- Last week, on August 20, Konkani speakers across India joyfully celebrated Konkani Manyata Divas, the anniversary of the day in 1992 when their mother tongue became, as delineated in the Eighth Schedule of the Indian Constitution, "official". This was the much-desired outcome of an agitation that had been brewing since 1962, when the proposal to absorb Goa, newly freed from Portuguese rule, into the state of Maharashtra, first came up. Fearful that this would mean the sidelining of not just Goans, but of their main language, Konkani, the move was staunchly resisted by Goans.

In 1967, a plebiscite called the Goa Opinion Poll ensured that Goa retained its status as an independent state. But the fight for the status of Kon...