rgy, inefficiency and inactivity that
took an immense toll on the newspaper. An example:
during his tenure, Bhembre failed to call even a single
meeting of staff reporters, let alone stringers.

Once again, Dattaraj Salgaocar, owner of Sunaparant,
has recently made up his mind to re-build and re-launch
the newspaper on a commercial basis. This is a welcome
step. Whatever may be the language of newspaper -- the
language is merely a tool for communication -- its
success depends on the information provided, in-depth
analysis and its commitment to important issues.

In an effort to make Sunaparant a 'mouthpiece' for
Konkani, Bhembre seems to have overlooked all these
issues. This is precisely why Bhembre had to seek the
support of a newspaper like The Navhind Times to
counter the likes of Jaisingrao Rane, despite heading
Sunaparant himself.

Needless to add, such incidents have proved detrimental
to the cause of Konkani. Almost 45 years ago, Konkani
protagonists had to depend on the crutches of Marathi
newspapers to enhance their cause. The situation is no
better today, largely due to the apathetic nature of
the leaders of the Konkani movement.

Vital ingredients

In my opinion, the major requirements for a successful
daily newspaper are: a state-of-the-art establishment,
a steadfast commitment to the reader, comprehensive
coverage of all sections of the society, and the
ultimate aim of becoming the voice of the Goan populace.

Sadly, all these factors remained low on the priority
of Konkani protagonists. Professionalism was never on
their agenda. With an eye on the leadership of the
Konkani movement, the likes of Bhembre used the
newspaper to carry out attacks against all his
opponents during the elections to the Konkani Bhasha Mandal

Bhembre has still not given up. He is now on the
advisory board of the soon-to-be-revamped Sunaparant.
This move obviously suggests the intention of halting
the progress of the restructured newspaper.

When I took over as an Editor of Sunaparant, Uday
Bhembre, then editor, was asked to vacate his post. Not
surprisingly, this angered Bhembre. Some of his
friends, who had been pampered with free publicity,
continuously worked against me.

To illustrate how this worked, one can cite here the
example of columnist Dilip Borkar whose satirical
column "Borkari", on various ills plaguing Goa, gained
all-round popularity. Borkar had even even taken
humorous digs at me through his