*Identity crisis* EUGENE CORREIA
Goa has been witnessing a new type of Portuguese presence with thousands of Goans availing themselves of Portuguese nationality. The figures given out by official agencies range from 25,000 to 40,000, with more applications in the pipeline for this piece of paper that enables holders to migrate to European countries for better prospects in education, jobs and living conditions. It's another matter that few succeed in fulfilling their desires once abroad, as there are cases of thousands languishing in low-paid jobs and also living in conditions worse than they did in Goa. But for the thousands who have registered their births or marriages in Portugal, as a requisite to acquiring Portuguese passports and, in turn, Portuguese identity, it feels better to have this document. The old adage a bird in hand is worth two in the bush seems to be their guiding post. Those who have achieved even limited success in landing jobs, live in the hope of their children enjoying better opportunities than what is found in Goa. These children are already shown signs of change, usually with their pronounced English accent and diction as most of them have ventured into the UK, drawn by its educational institutions. The outrage in Goa erupting over the cases of MLAs Caetanio (Caitu) Rosario Silva and Glenn Ticlo, along with the family of the Alemaos, has been quite disheartening. The Caitu case is subjudice and it's outcome is eagerly awaited since it could have a far-reaching impact on those in Goa who hold Portuguese nationality or have registered their births in Portugal. One doesn't know what the consequences will be if the court decides that these people are not Indians and are thus subject to the Foreigners Act. This new phenomenon of Portuguese passport-holders in this 52nd year of Liberation harks back to those colonial times in Goa. Between then and now, much water has flown down the Mandovi and the Zuari rivers. It has also seen the rise of a new class of Goans who feel they are Portuguese but with a Goan heart. They think they are Goans per se and not Indians, whatever that means. Most of these are Catholic Goans, and a website like Niz Goenkar, based in England, fans their feelings and keeps the flame alive in their hearts and minds. Most also feel that Goa would be lost to outsiders in a few decades. But even with the exodus from Goa, the vacuum never remains empty and with time it gets filled. Many of these Portuguese passport-holders remain in Goa and access all benefits and also work in the government against the tenets of Indian law. In a way, they are “outsiders” too who blame the “outsiders” from the rest of India for becoming a part and parcel of Goa. These pro-Portuguese Goans have also settled in the UK, Australia and Canada. The reality that Goa is now and will always remain a part of India has not sunk into these Goans who berate the Indian government for what Jawaharlal Nehru did on this day—December 19--in 1961. Nehru's words that "it was no pleasure for us to undertake armed action, but the Portuguese left us no choice" are forgotten. This forms the basis and raison d'etre of the Goa Su-Raj Party which has never won an assembly seat but has plodded along for more than a decade in Goa's political wastelands. It seems to have more followers and supporters abroad than in Goa itself and it is little wonder that it has representatives in England and Canada. If it can do an Aam Admi Party (AAP) in Goa, then it can really arrive on the Goan political scene. But that appears to be a distant dream. It's water under the bridge now to chide Nehru for not keeping his promise, but many fail to consider his death in 1964 before he could work on his promise. The Congress also did not follow through on Nehru's promise, for when the master is gone the others are left to play their own games. Nehru's will ran across the Congress and perhaps if he had lived longer, Goa could today be presenting a different picture. That the much-vaunted plebiscite never took place burns the hearts of these Goans, even if today Goa is ruled by Goans. The same tirade directed against Nehru is also directed against freedom fighters. Those still living and benefiting from government largesse in the form of special pension for services rendered, are denigrated as "free-dole" fighters. True, some of them may not be genuine freedom fighters and to weed them out is a process fraught with problems. It's true also that the Supreme Court took international jurisprudence into account when it ruled India's Liberation of Goa as “annexation". The UNO's silence in this respect is something that scholars have debated and written about, and thus has remained purely academic. In the light of Goa's admission into the federation of India, it's refreshing that some new academics and scholars have taken to studying the works of Luis de Menezes Braganza, who is also known to have brought on himself the wrath of the Portuguese administration, both in Portugal and India. It's only through disseminating what Menezes Braganza stood for and the principles he fought for that the young generation of Goans born after 1961 would become aware of the liberation movement. This new generation must know that besides Ram Manohar Lohia, who was instrumental in providing an impetus to the non-violent agitation in Goa, it was Menezes Braganza who oiled the machinery of civil disobedience in Goa through his writings. Menezes Braganza shines as a light on Goa's freedom movement and it's not too late for him to be given due credit. No doubt Tristao de Braganza Cunha, his brother-in-law, is rightly known as the Father of Goan Nationalism, but both together brought Goa the freedom we enjoy today. Young Goans should be inspired by their ideals and take recourse to the writings of MB and TB to understand the past in order to bring the present into proper perspective. Today, the “denationalization of Goans”, to use the title of Menezes Braganza’s comprehensive essay, appears to be of a different kind. Menezes Braganza, as a co-founder of this paper, O Heraldo, and later through O Debate, and Diario de Noite, which he founded, and his stirring articles for Pracasha, sounded the horn of "self-determination" of Goans. It remains conjecture what these two intellectuals and nationalists meant by “self-determination” as, for Goans on either side of the debate, the words seem to mean different things. === http://www.epaperoheraldo.in/epapermain.aspx ===================================== eugene