http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/goa/Parrikar-Vaz-Costa-Trailblazer-politicians-with-Goa-in-their-veins/articleshow/45153335.cms
Jubilation across the state this week when Manohar Parrikar made his first trip back home as India's Union defence minister, the first member of the cabinet ever from Goa. It is a big leap, with the former chief minister of Goa chosen specifically for his plain-speaking competence. There's a lot at stake for Parrikar in his new role. India is the world's largest arms importer, but plagued by scams and influence-peddling, with billions of dollars of purchases stalled. Our new defence minister has already indicated "the issue of procurement for the armed forces has been taken on priority. This is very crucial to build the capacity of the armed forces". It was also a big week for UK's veteran Goan politician, Keith Vaz. Speaker of the House of Commons, John Bercow announced that he is Labour Party's MP of the year for "valuable work for under-represented, deprived and minority sections of the country". Vaz's party leader, Ed Miliband, offered high praise: "Keith broke the glass ceiling when he entered Parliament as one of the first black, Asian, minority MPs in 1987. Every time I visit him in Leicester East I see just how hard he works, and just how big a difference he makes to his city. I also know how big an impact Keith makes on the national stage. For 32 years he has been a political pioneer." Vaz—who vacations in Goa every year with his family—has been a remarkable trailblazer, the first Asian MP since Shapurji Saklatvala way back in 1929. Now he is at the heart of the British establishment, a member of the privy council (the Queen's formal body of advisers) since 2006, and often ranked the UK's most influential Indian. Parrikar and Vaz have climbed to high rungs on the political ladders of their countries, but another Goan is majestically powering his way to the very top in his. Lisbon's popular three-term mayor Antonio Costa recently wrested control of Portugal's Socialist Party, and is now the overwhelming favourite to become prime minister in national elections next year. Costa has had a brilliant career as member of the European parliament (and eventually vice-president), and minister of state. His record as mayor of Lisbon stands out as a model of far-thinking, pragmatic administration in a time of severe economic crisis. The city on the Tagus has never looked better, and is consistently ranked the cleanest, the greenest, and most livable in Europe. The mayor of Lisbon's father, the ferociously anti-colonial writer Orlando Costa provides direct link to yet another set of trailblazing Goan politicians from an earlier era and another continent altogether. The older Costa spent his childhood in Goa before moving to Lisbon, where he gravitated to the Casa dos Estudantes do Imperio, a centre for students from African and other Portuguese colonies. Here he met Mapusa-born Aquino de Braganca. The two Goans bonded over radical politics. Orlando went on to write beautiful, prize-winning novels like 'O signo da ira' and 'O Ultimo Olhar de Manu Miranda', but Aquino became a committed revolutionary. He was the moving force behind Concp—the Conference of Nationalist Organizations of the Portuguese Colonies—and personally negotiated the freedom of Mozambique on behalf of his close friend, Samora Machel of Frelimo—the Front for the Liberation of Mozambique. Though he died in a mysterious plane crash along with Machel (then the president of Mozambique) in 1986, Aquino's place in history is secure. Nelson Mandela called him "a great revolutionary" who "prepared the ground". The former president of Mozambique, Joaquim Chissano, told his widow, Sylvia Braganca, that "many presidents remember. Mugabe remembers. Kaunda certainly remembers. How many times did I not hear Nyerere talking about Aquino de Braganca?" A bit further up the coastline of East Africa from Mozambique, the Republic of Kenya came into existence exactly 50 years ago. Again Goans played a central role. The Mau Mau rebels, including Jomo Kenyatta (eventually first president), were represented in court by Fitz de Souza. Another countryman, Pio Gama Pinto, helped found both the Kenya African National Union and the Pan African Press. Their good friend, Joseph Murumbi Zuzarte—his mother was Maasai—was a pillar of native culture: he founded the largest art gallery in Africa, and his 50,000 books remain centrepiece at the Kenya national archives. Long before Costa and Vaz and Parrikar began to scale the ranks of their respective political hierarchies, this Mapusa-born, Goa-educated, brilliant intellectual was elected vice-president of Kenya in 1965.
