Hi AVF: Your fulminations against freedom fighters seems aimed at basically (i) pointing to the dubious elements among them (and obviously there would have been, more so with so many benefits being created in the post-1961 territory) (ii) discrediting freedom-fighters as a community (iii) somehow questioning an existing reality (the end of Portuguese rule) and a situation which, while it may cause mental disquiet for you, actually benefits the majority of people in Goa. Not just Hindus, but the bulk of Christians who got it rough in underdeveloped Portuguese times. (Or, as anthropologist Robert S Newman would say, in feudal colonial times, compared to bourgeois capitalist post-1961).
While you accuse "very many Hindu freedom fighters" of being "fanatic Hindus ... (wanting) to turn Goa into a Hindu Raj", the fact remains that much of the little sorrow over the end of Portuguese rule stems from a misplaced Catholic 'loss of power', which stems from the perceived break in sharing the religion of the ruler! A closer reading of history would reveal that there were groups which were influenced by the Hindutva position (the Azad Gomantak Dal stands out here, maybe Teo could correct me), and the RSS had to catch up on lost time because of its almost total lack of involvement in the anti-colonial movement against the British. (This also explains, in part, though local factors cannot be forgotten, for the rise of the MGP in post-1961 Goa.) But to simplify things to the level you do simply isn't credible. -FN PS: The Marathi "masters" you talk about were brought in mainly as temple priests some 200-300 years ago. Ashok Row Kavi, writing in the Week around 1987 (language controversy time) has a good exposition of the relations between them and Goan Hindu society... While concluding I demand apology from the Freedom Fighters Association in Goa for the robberies, murders and other dirty acts the rascal freedom fighters have committed in Goa in the name of freedom movement. Worst of the crimes and brutalities against Goans during the Portuguese regime were committed not by Portuguese soldats and Agente Monteiro but by the "Chor" and "Crimidor" freedom fighters. A. Veronica Fernandes, Kuwait. -- ---------------------------------------------------------- Frederick 'FN' Noronha | Yahoomessenger: fredericknoronha http://fn.goa-india.org | +91(832)2409490 Cell 9822122436 ---------------------------------------------------------- 2248 copylefted photos from Goa: http://www.flickr.com/photos/fn-goa/ _______________________________________________ Goanet mailing list Goanet@lists.goanet.org http://lists.goanet.org/listinfo.cgi/goanet-goanet.org