LIVING IN HARMONY BY Stephen Dias Resident of Dona Paula Social Activist
After the Liberation of Goa, the possibility of merging Goa with Maharastra or Karnataka was floated. However, Dr. Jack de Sequeira and others pushed for Goa to be a separate state and the Opinion poll gave its verdict. Otherwise Goa would have been merged with Maharashtra and Goans would have lost their identity. Mumbai would have been the capital and even to get a simple birth certificate Goans would had to go to Mumbai as it is capital city of Maharastra. The usage of Marathi would be standard. Life would be very different and our children would have been born into a different world. We have much to be grateful for to anti-merger leaders like Jack Sequeira, who fought tooth and nail to ensure that Goa remained a separate state. I, now a senior citizen, distinctly remember as a young man in 1967 going around with a group of Goans organised by Dr. Jack Sequeira at the Casa Bar Barreto in Panjim. We went house to house talking to people and we were also part of the movement that moved by trucks and motorcycle motorcade to Banastarim and Mardol where we ended up in a fight with MGP forces. We also proceeded many areas accross Goa appealing to the Goan voters to please vote for the two leaves symbol of the United Goans party and to ensure that that the mergerists were defeated lock, stock and barrel. The battle for Goa was never about religion. Dr. Jack de Sequeira never directed us to destroy any temple, he only asked us to fight for our identity against merger with Maharastra. Goans had a good unity prior to Liberation among all religions and castes and it is only in the last 20 odd years, after the BJP came to power, that we lost our unity. There is no point blaming the Portuguese on issues of destroying any Hindu temples. It is well known that several Hindu temples were rebuilt by the Portuguese themselves and Sudin has confirmed in the local newspapers newspaper that their Goddess Mahalsa who was in Quelshi, Verna was shifted to Mardol, that Mahalaximi that was in Colva was shifted and rebuilt 400 years ago in Bhandora where Sudin Dhavlikar resides, and that Lord Ganesh from Curca was shifted to Nagueshi in Bhandora. Sudin made a strong statement that the Portuguese did not destroy or raze any of the above Hindu temples, but relocated/shifted them to their present sites at the above respective places. It makes sense that Salcete today is the Catholic heartland and therefore it would be inconvenient as well as expensive for poor Hindus from Ponda taluka to go to all the way in Salcete for prayers and worship. It may be recalled that the same Mr. Sudin Dhavlikar is now posing as a secularist because of his acquaintances with Tiramool Congress. This U-turn and changes in the stand by political leaders must not confuse the voters already perplexed over this issue. Election 2022 must centre around economic development of Goa and Goans. We must know that Goa is a world renowned Tourism destination which correctly adversely affected to Covid 19 and its virus variant Omicron. We must endeavour to promote Tourism as the backbone of our economy as mining has destroyed the aquifers and made agriculture reductant in this mining talukas of Goa. We must reclaim and restore silted agricultural fields around Bicholim, Quepem, Sanguem, Satari, Valpoi etc and thereon we must integrate with value addition to our agricultural produce. For example we can convert rice into porridge or biscuits similarly coconut harvest can be transformed into coconut milk curries, cookies, biscuits, cake called baatt etc. Unnecessarily raking up of non issues and giving it a religious colour, smacks of lack of vision by the BJP government in power today. We Goans must be aware of the hidden agenda of polarization resorted to by the immature CM Pramod Sawant. It is also very critical that secular forces like the AAP, Congress, Trinamool Congress, come together to save the State of Goa from safron onslaught.