[Goanet-News] 48. The Army Commander and COAS Visit Vassalo e Silva (Valmiki Faleiro)

[Goanet Reader]

48. The Army Commander and COAS Visit Vassalo e Silva

Valmiki Faleiro

Lieutenant General (later General and Chief of Army Staff) JN
Chaudhuri GOC-in-C Southern Command, together with AOC-in-C
Air Vice Mshl EW Pinto and BN Mullik of the IB, took a
helicopter from Belgaum to Goa the following day, 20 December
1961. Lt Gen Chaudhuri visited Major General Vassalo e Silva
at Vasco da Gama at 2 pm.

  Born into an aristocratic Bengali zamindar family
  that produced several great names in law, medicine
  and literature, Lt Gen Chaudhuri was a grandnephew
  of the first non-European Nobel laureate in
  literature, Gurudev Rabindranath Tagore and was
  trained at the UK's Royal Military College at
  Sandhurst.  He was a batch mate of latter day
  Pakistan President, Gen Ayub Khan.

Gen.  Carlos de Azeredo, then a Captain, was with Maj Gen
Vassalo e Silva and was the official interpreter.  In his
book 'Trabalhos e dias de um soldado do império (Work and
days of a soldier of the empire)' he says, "General Chaudhuri
entered the cell alone and cordially greeted Vassalo.
Vassalo wanted to stand up to compliment [salute] the Indian,
but the latter rested his hand on his shoulder and did not
let him. He [Lt Gen JN Chaudhuri] pulled up a chair and sat
down. He had words of praise for the Portuguese forces."

Colonel CA de Morais says that Lt Gen Chaudhuri congratulated
Maj Gen Vassalo e Silva for the combats in Mapusa, Bicholim,
Diu and Daman. "Despite the scarce means the Portuguese
[forces] had reacted well against the action by the Indian
troops." The GOC-in-C said that he had ordered POWs from Diu
to be evacuated to Goa.  Lt Gen Chaudhuri "ended the meeting
saying that if he [Maj Gen Vassalo e Silva] wanted anything
he could request the Indian camp commander [Major (later
Lieutenant Colonel) Earl William ('Bill') Carvalho, the first
camp commander]" (Morais, A Queda da Índia Portuguesa, 2nd
edition 1995, Page 151).

Lt Gen Chaudhuri told Vassalo e Silva that his wife, Fernanda
Pereira Monteiro e Silva, was well and safe and that
Government of India would soon be sending her to Lisbon.

  Lieutenant General Jayanto Nath Chaudhuri, OBE,
  then drove to Panjim in an army jeep, accompanied
  by Air Vice Mshl Ehrlich Pinto and BN Mullik.  On
  the way, the trio encountered a duo of White men
  happily motoring along, oblivious of what was
  happening around.  The White duo was stopped and
  quizzed.  They told the Indian military officers
  that they were German and not Portuguese -- and
  felt quite safe at the hands of the Indian jawan.

Hearing that, Air Vice Mshl Pinto pulled out two bullets from
his personal weapon and, showing them to the two Germans,
said, "These bullets are illiterate.  Can they recognise your
nationality?"

Lt Gen Chaudhuri burst into laughter. He then politely told
the Germans that they would be better off home and remain
indoors until the situation settled down. The Germans made
an about turn and vanished [this episode is borrowed from
Major General VK Singh's History of the Corps of Signals,
Volume III, Chapter 3.]

Lt Gen Chaudhuri and his companions then visited hospitals in
Panjim and assured the wounded POWs that no harm would come
to them. He ordered due medical attention and supplies be
given to them. The party then returned to Dabolim and
helicoptered back to Belgaum.

  Later, Chief of Army Staff, General Pran Nath
  Thapar visited Maj Gen Vassalo e Silva at the POW
  camp in Vasco da Gama.  Gen Thapar was younger
  brother of Dr.  Daya Ram Thapar, IMS, Director
  General Armed Forces Medical Services, father of
  famed TV anchor/journalist Karan Thapar who was
  married to a Colaço from Margao, uncle of historian
  Romila Thapar and journo Romesh Thapar, and
  granduncle of tiger conservationist Valmik Thapar.
  The son of a Diwan at Lahore in pre-Partition
  India, Gen Thapar was a product of UK's Royal
  Military College, Sandhurst, and later of the
  Imperial Defence College, London.

The meeting was warm and cordial. Vassalo e Silva was soon
shifted to a better house in the woods at the Alpha POW Camp
at Ponda (he remained at Alpalqueiros, Vasco da Gama, less
than ten days).  Indian Major Cezar PF Lobo, a pilot with the
Air Observation Post of the Artillery Regiment, a Goan from
Aldona fluent in the Portuguese language, was tasked to take
charge and look after the VIP POW.

  Major General KP Candeth was appointed Military
  Governor, with RCVP Noronha, ICS/IAS, as Chief
  Civic Administrator and GK Handoo, IPS, as Special
  Advisor.  Brigadier Donald Viegas of Curtorim, then
  a Colonel at Army HQ, was sent to Goa on 21
  December 1961 to assist the Military Governor.
  Lieutenant 

[Goanet-News] Remembering the sea journey to Goa... (Cynthia Gomes James, from the archives)

[Frederick Noronha]

https://goanet-news.goanet.narkive.com/aF0xObvm/goanet-reader-full-steam-ahead-to-goa-cynthia-gomes-james

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[Goanet-News] Communal harmony, system of jurisprudence do make a difference

[Goanet Reader]

Communal harmony, system of jurisprudence do make a difference

Visitacao B. Monteiro
vmonteiro0...@gmail.com
WhatsApp +91-9604201168

The thirty-fifth anniversary of Goa Statehood Day was
recently celebrated, on May 30. During a function held to
mark it, Goa Governor. P.S. Sreedharan Pillai appealed to
all present, and to Goans in general, to study, in depth, the
communal harmony and the system of jurisprudence that existed
in Goa till 1961 and even for some while later.

  There has been no comment on this appeal till now.
  As far as one is aware, nobody from the Government
  nor among the politicians has bothered to give a
  serious look to what the Governor has said.
  Possibly, they might not even have understood what
  his suggestion was since, most of them were born
  after 1961 and are unaware about how peaceful the
  Goa of that time was.

Governor Sreedharan Pillai deserves our thanks and praise for
having opened eyes to the reality of Goa before 1961.
Although the role of the Governor is limited, with regard to
the Administration of the State, yet his words are an
eye-opener. I hope Goans will take his words seriously and
try their best to study their past, because from the past we
can draw lessons for the future.

In this article, I will try to delve on these two concepts:
communal harmony and the system of jurisprudence which
prevailed in Goa before 1961.

Communal harmony constitutes the hallmark of Goa. In this
land, people of various religious denominations and even
atheists, have lived in peace and harmony. History tells us
that during the Ashoka Empire, Buddhism prevailed in Goa for
around six centuries.

  The caves at Arvalem and a statue of the Buddha,
  which was found in Colvale and is presently at the
  Heras Institute, Mumbai, is proof enough.  There is
  a huge Jain tank with niches at Naroa.  An Armenian
  Cross was found in the ruins of Velha Goa port
  area, thus signalling the existence of St.  Thomas’
  Christians at Goa Velha and we also find the
  claimed ruins of a Jewish Synagogue at Curca.  All
  this shows that our communal harmony is
  multi-secular and even multi-millennial.

Goa being a trade zone even before the arrival of the
Portuguese, temples, mosques and synagogues were co-existing
in Old-Goa. There is no record that there was any communal
trouble among any religious denominations.

After the arrival of the Portuguese, although they demolished
all the mosques from the city of Old Goa early on, and later
many temples in the Portuguese-ruled areas of Goa of that
time, communal harmony continued to prevail in Goa till date
and constitutes the hallmark of the State.

  It is very unfortunate that, of late, the same is
  being sought to be disturbed by various statements.
  This should not be allowed to happen at any cost,
  but on the contrary, all should be proud of it and
  promote it.  We need to show the other States that
  various linguistic, religious and cultural
  denominations indeed can live in peace and harmony
  with each other in this State.

From where did that communal harmony come to be recognized as
one of the constituent elements of Goan identity? This
question will lead us to the second part of the Governor's
appeal -- the system of jurisprudence which prevailed in Goa
pre-1961 and a little later.

Goans are unique and continue to be known the world over as
among the most peaceful people without exaggeration.  For
millennia, they have lived a community life in their village
communities, Ganvkaris or Comunidades (in Portuguese) and it
is this 'community spirit' that makes them 'different'.

The system of the Village Communities, Ganvkaris/Comunidades
has been based right from its beginning on a concept of
jurisprudence which was similar to the concept of Roman
Jurisprudence, where decisions were arrived at democratically
during the village community meetings.

When the Portuguese arrived in Goa in 1510, the system of
Roman Jurisprudence was formally adopted in Goa and was part
of it till 1961. David Sinclair in 'History of India'
(Madras 1896) and G. Duncan M. Derret in his chapter on Hindu
law in Goa: A contact between Natural, Roman and Hindu laws,
speak of this kind of jurisprudence.

  In the Roman concept of Jurisprudence, the people
  have a say in the governance and laws, while in the
  British concept of Jurisprudence which was followed
  in India during British domination, people have no
  say because the Queen/State is supreme.  In
  Portuguese Goa the opinion of the people mattered.
  The British Jurisprudence has been followed in
  India even after 1947 and in Goa after 1961.  The
  basic difference between the earlier Jurisprudence
  and the present