rship
base. Despite the backing of powerful industrialists in
Goa, Rashtramat lost out despite its history. The
newspaper, which swayed Goan thinkers during the
Opinion Poll, failed to instill a sense of
professionalism. Rashtramat is now trying to capture
lost ground with hard hitting editorials by Sitaram Tengse,
besides addition of supplements.)

Gomantak's failure in the face of Tarun Bharat's
onslaught is an example of how a market leader can fail
by sitting on its laurels. The Gomantak was originally
started in Goa to advocate the state's merger with
Maharashtra and furthering the cause of the Marathi
language. Gomantak owed much of its success to its
former editor, Madhav Gadkari. By the own admission,
Gadkari gave Gomantak a Hindu face and supported the
cause of Marathi through his speeches. Mr Gadkari's
enthusiasm, foresight and hard work were instrumental
in the growth of Gomantak. The newspaper's circulation
shot up from 3000 copies per day to 15,000 copies per
day and kept growing. His successor, Narayan Athavale,
known for his inimitable style of writing, kept up
Gadkari's legacy.

Madhav Gadkari has been always accused of fostering
pro-Maharashtra sentiments, fueling the language
controversy and creating disharmony between Goa's main
Hindu and Catholic communities. Konkani protagonists
continue to level these allegations and suspect that
Gomantak is still aiming to merge Goa with Maharashtra.
Gadkari admitted that he had come to Goa to campaign
during 1967 elections. Though initially he was not the
editor, he used to write regularly for Gomantak. In all
Gadkari spent ten years in Goa.

Despite being labelled an outsider, the Marathi press
in Goa owes its professionalism to Gadkari. He turned
Gomantak into a platform for the Goan bahujan
community. He started the Shiv Jayanti celebrations in
Goa and, in his tenure of 10 years, he fought several
intellectual and political battles.

To begin with Gadkari was very close to Goa's first
chief minister, Dayanand Bandodkar. The relationship
proved profitable, with Bandodkar leaking several
stories to Gadkari that were published prominently in
Gomantak. Later on, the two fell out, and Bandodkar
stopped government advertisements to Gomantak.
Bandodkar went on to accuse Gadkari and the Gomantak of
vitiating communal harmony in Goa, in a complaint to
the Press Council of India.

Gadkari believed that in the Vishal Gomantak (a
'greater Goa' state that